Unexpected Encounter
by Zombie-Schnecke
Summary: "I am probably the worst person, you could have chosen to rob..." an unexpected but not unpleasing encounter between a thief and an assassin; Brynjolf/[F]OFC
1. first encounter

AN: Hi guys, it`s nice that at least anyone, started to read this =) This is not my first fanfiction, but it`s been a long time since I wrote something and my first elder scroll story. The prologue may stand alone, but I actually have an idea for a longer story developing out of this. The first part has probably no spoilers, but in the progress I will mention the Thieves guild and dark brotherhood questline.

This is rated M, because of mature topics, meaning sexual content, if you are easily offended by that, plaese don`t read it !

Please note that English is not my mother tongue. I will have made at least some grammar mistakes, so feel free to correct me, I will try to improve. Have fun !

**Unexpected Encounters**

**Prologue**

The inn was full of people. The perfect place for a little raid. Everybody was occupied and most were drunk. Actually Brynjolf had already completed the quest he had come for to Markath. The small golden statue for some collector was safely hidden in his backpack. He did not find it appealing at any point, but for the gold it would bring the guild. Currently they had a bit of a rough time and gold wasn`t coming in as smoothly as it once had. So that was why, he Brynjolf the second in command, had to take care that this job was done. He didn`t mind. A little traveling could be fun and it was nice to get out, since the mood has been rather depressing lately.

Snapping out of his thoughts Brynjolf looked around the inn. Grabbing his mead, he leaned back and looked out for potential victims. With their current line of failures, it would be useful to grab a little extra coin while staying.

For some time he watched an old man, probably a merchant. He looked quite wealthy and was obviously tired, because his eyes were closing every now and then for some time and he was having a hard time to reopen them.

On the other side there was a group of mercenaries sitting and celebrating. From their shouts and laughter Brynjolf found out, that they just made a lot of coin by destroying some sort of bandit group for the jarl.

But he dropped the idea of robbing them. They were heavily armed and drunken worriers tended to be aggressive. No need to take such risks.

Suddenly behind those guys, in the far corner, he spotted a girl, a dunmer girl. She sat on a bench with her back against the wall. Her features were quite delicate, but with strong cheekbones like many of her race. Brynjolf actually preferred Nordwoman, but he thought for that girl he could make an excuse. Especially since her green tunica with embroidery indicated that she wasn`t poor at all.

So taking another sip from his mead, Brynjolf rose from his place and walked casually towards her. On his way he grabbed the gold purse of the merchant, he was watching earlier and secured it at his own pants.

When he nearly reached her, he made eye contact and produced the most charming smile ever seen.

"Well, what do we got `ere?! A lass, like you, sitting all alone in a full tavern, what a shame…"

Meanwhile, Brynjolf sat down on the bench next to her, leaning a bit back so he had a better view on the girl, who eyed him back very closely and took her time to examine him. When she was done, and obviously pleased with what she saw, there formed a smug smile on her lips, while saying:

"Most people in here seemed too dull, to be a pleasing company" With that she crossed her arms in front of her torso. This pushed her breasts a bit up and Brynjolf`s gaze dropped somewhere under her face for just a moment. But the girl didn`t seem to mind. Her smile only grew a bit wider and she said nothing, waiting for his response.

"That is a very pessimistic estimation of the situation. Let me proof you the opposite…"

And so Brynjolf engaged her in a meaningless conversation. Literally throwing insinuating phrases at her, to which she responded giggling. She seemed to enjoy his attention very much and Brynjolf found himself proudly realizing that he had quite an aim when it came to women.

Leaning closer in the progress of the conversation he had the chance to examine her inconspicuously. She was probably a bit older than he thought at the beginning. Her eyes gave away that, but still a few years younger than him. She was slender, but not looking malnourished. She was a bit taller than would be expected from a Dunmer. Also her shoulders and hips were quite broad, what gave her very feminine curves.

And she knew how to play with that, god she knew… By know she sat in front of him, their knees touching. She had put on leg over the other and had tuck her ebony hair behind her ear. Now she was leaning on one arm, while her elbow was resting on the back of the bench they were sitting on. Looking suggestively at him.

Brynjolf had to admit, she attracted him far more than originally thought. So there was a voice in this head saying that he could spend the night with her and only depart tomorrow. After all, that was obviously what that lass had in mind.

But sadly obligations waited for him in Rifton, he could not delay his departure any more. With that thought, he laid one hand on the girl`s thigh, inching as close as he could get. Meanwhile the other hand searched in her belongings, which were stowed on the floor beneath the bench.

Just when he thought he found her purse, he felt something cold pressing on his groin.

"…and just where exactly do you think your hand is at the moment, my charming thief?" , she said again with that smug smile and the in most sweetest way she could, while still pressing her dagger on this groin.

"Woha lass, relax…" Brynjolf said, very much unnerved by that dagger, and slowly raising the hand that was rummaging in her stuff, the other still rested on her thigh.

"I am probably the worst person, you could have chosen to rob and only because I take a very personal interest in it, I leave your manhood unharmed", she said smiling like won a prize and removed the dagger.

Brynjolf was speechless. That didn`t happen often, actually he couldn`t remember the last time.

"So, where were we…?!", she said suggestively, while she slid an arm around Brynjolfs neck and climbing on his lap. "Or, did you got cold feet, now?"

Brynjolf, who was still afraid to be unmanned, couldn`t quite process what was happening and just stared at her wide eyed. The girl took that as a sign that she, well her body, has never been of any interest and stood up. The smug smile was gone, instead she looked quite sour.

"I am disappointed. I expected more, thief. Make sure the next time you take a better look at your victim for I won`t let you get out of this so easily a second time. "With that she turned around and grabbed her stuff, ready to go.

Brynjolf, the so considered master thief, sat still motionless on the bench. But his brain was working. When she had stood up, he had got a full view at her for the first time. Beneath her light tunica she wore black leather pants, black with red seams.

Fuck… He just messed up with an assassin of the dark brotherhood.

In an attempt to save this encounter from becoming a disaster and hopefully saving his life also, he sprang on his feet and grabbed her from behind, sliding an arm around her lower torso and pushing her back against his body.

"I was just a bit unnerved by that bloody dagger. I would never ever let an opportunity to … get to know… a lass like you slip away from me. ", he mumbled in her ear and it quickly lightened her mood. She turned around in his embrace, leaned on him a bit, so that they were just barely touching and said:" I am not totally convinced, but I am willing to give you a second chance. Just make sure you don`t muck it up again. That could end very badly… for you." With the last sentence, she looked up at him and her eyes got something very icy, completely different to her to her playful behaviour. It left no doubt that if he crossed her again, he wouldn`t ever see the sunlight again.

Surprisingly the expectation of his possible death did not scare Brynjolf too much, it was more a shiver that ran down his spine and excited him. This air of danger made his skin tingle and he had to admit: it aroused him. Damn his obligations, after all he could claim that she forced him. Well, no, he wouldn´t tell anyone that.

"Well, you haven`t revealed your name to me up until now, my gentleman-thief", the lass said to get the conversation going on. When she saw his sceptic glare, debating if it would be wise to trust an assassin with his real name, she said:" People call me Missy"

"Missy,…", he asked chuckling "that is a rather strange name for an assassin, isn`t it?! Mine`s Brynjolf, by the way"

"No victim ever complained", she answered with a shrug of her shoulders. "So, Brynjolf…", she was pronouncing his name like an obscenity "Why don`t we relocate our… conversation to somewhere more private ? I got a room rented for the night…."

Brynjolf, wouldn`t have been Brynjolf, if he`d let down an invitation like this.

When the door of Missy`s room closed behind them. She shoved him against it, pressed her body on his and started kissing him. Brynjolf let her take the lead. He still wasn`t ultimately comfortable with the events of this evening and it unnerved him that his performance in bed would be the key to surviving this night. It doesn`t do any good to pressure men…

But Missy was eager, and very soon he couldn`t bring himself to care anymore, actually any thought at all was wasted energy, especially since the blood was needed elsewhere. So he let his hands, which had rested on her hips, roam and explore the body in front of him.

His hands went first down to her firm butt and grabbed it, pressing her even more against him. Meanwhile Missy`s hands explored his torso and started to unbuckle his armour. She didn`t want to waste any time, it seemed…

Her mouth moved from his to his neck. Kissing and biting all the way from his throat to his ear. His much needed intake of breath became a barely supressed moan, what made her giggle again. How un-assassin like, he thought.

In the meantime his hands moved from her butt to under her tunica. Caressing the soft skin of her lower back and then her belly. One hand started to inch up slowly to find her breast. This obviously did not happen fast enough for with one fluid motion, Missy let go of Brynjolf and pulled the tunica over her head. She took a few steps away from him, dropping the tunica on the floor there and then sitting on the edge of the bed. Brynjolf stalked after her, on his way sliding the already opened armour from his shoulders.

For a moment both examined each other's body, him standing in front of the bed, her laying down. Then suddenly Brynjolf climbed onto the bed also, covering her with his body. His mouth found her neck and he started to kiss and suck at it, just like she had done a moment ago. But his mouth soon went down exploring one breast, while he massaged the other with his hand.

That got her moaning and aching. She lifted her hips, grinding them on his and his swollen manhood. In a totally unexpected movement, she changed their places, and sat down on top of him, what made both groan. Her hands resumed exploring his chest. They were soon replaced by her mouth, so the hands could start working on the buttons of his breeches. As if by accident she lightly touched his prick through his pants, which made him wriggle underneath her.

As she finally opened all buttons, she wasted no time and quickly shoved his pants down, so they would pool on his feet and got rid of her own as well.

As if time stood still, both took a moment to appreciate the other naked body, panting heavily. It must have been only seconds, then she climbed on top of him again, and with one movement sank herself onto him, making them both gasp for air.

Brynjolf grabbed her by her hair and pulled her down to a passionate kiss, while she started moving her hips in a merciless fast rhythm. The room filled with the unmistakable scent of sex and sweat and all that could be heard were gasps, moans and two bodies smacking against each other.

Missy was the first one to lose all control. She bit hard in his shoulder, as her orgasm ripped through her. The feeling of her inner walls contracting around him, was what got Brynjolf over the edge. He came hard, spilling into her. Missy still rocked her hips a couple of times, though more gently, before she collapsed onto him.

There they laid, both exhausted trying to catch their breaths. When she rolled off him, laying down beside him, he tried rise from the bed, but she grabbed his arm, saying:" Stay, I appreciate the warmth". So he pulled her in an embrace from behind, one arm supporting his head and the other pulling her close on her belly. And really she seemed cold.

Soon she relaxed and her breath became even. Brynjolf on the other hand couldn´t rest, with his brain working again and processing what just happened. The absurdity of this situation crashed down on him, leaving him edgy.

That was when he spotted the delicate silver necklace, she was wearing. On her lilac grey skin it was nearly invisible. A dangerous idea formed in his head, but hey he was a thief after all, in a way it was her own fault falling asleep beside him…

He leaned down, lightly kissing her neck and ear, what made her mumble in her sleep and he opened the lock of the necklace. Slowly for not waking her, he pulled at it, till it was safely within his hand. He waited another half hour or so until she was without any doubt fast asleep. Then he withdraw slowly and carefully form the bed. Without a sound he retrieved his clothes and within minutes he was outside the inn and getting into a cart that would bring him to Rifton.

When they left the city, a smug smile formed on his face. His honour as a master thief and his dignity as a man were back in place.

ooooooooooooo

so, what do you think?! Leave me a comment. I appreciate constructive critic


	2. second encounter

AN: okay, guys here we go. In the last chapter we had a little insight in Brynjolf, in this we more focus on Missy, who will have her revenge for her stolen necklace. Hope you like it. Please R&R

Since this has became something bigger (at least in my head) than a oneshort, I`ll try to make updates weekly, but I don`t know if I can keep that pace up.

2nd encounter

A few days later – in a cavern somewhere near Dawnstar

"Hey, guys, I`m back… everything ok around here? Oh, Nazir how are you?", Missy said walking in the main room of the dark brotherhood`s new sanctuary. Nazir was sitting at a table, offering her a puzzled look.

"hmm, well kind of ok… how was your trip?", he said, still eying her suspiciously. "Successful!" Missy claimed happily and sat down beside Nazir. "I have the whole amount of money, and had no problems…"

"Well, about here…" Nazir started carefully. He did not want to ignite an outburst of fury, for which Missy was well known for. At least not if there wasn`t anyone else around on whom Missy could vent her anger. He had once been the victim of her frustration and honestly it could be really intimidating.

"ohhh, Cicero is happy to see that the Listener is back in one piece…", the Jester exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind them.

"oh, Cicero, thank you and yeah it is nice to be back", Missy said smiling to him. Cicero was a bit stunned at that since it was not the normal kind of conversation he usually had with the Listener, so he quickly disappeared again. That was what she usually told him to do, anyway.

Nazir looked equally disbelieving. "Missy, is really everything ok with you?"

The woman in question took a bite of an apple, she found on the table and answered: "Sure, why not? What did you want to tell me before?" Nazir still found this situation surreal, but thought it wasn`t his business. "That novice, Perm, he got himself killed on a mission.", he told her as a matter of fact.

"oh, that is a pity for him. Was he successful before dying?", Missy asked, taking another bite of her apple, apparently not very much bothered.

"No, actually he fucked up greatly…" By now, she should have jumped up and started yelling…

"ok, then we need to send someone else." Missy said, totally calm.

"Yeah, that was what I thought. I `ll be gone in two days…" Nazir eyed the girl beside him closely and couldn`t hold back anymore.

"Missy, I`ve been knowing you for a long time now… since you joined the brotherhood actually, but you have never ever in this whole time asked me how I`m feeling. To be honest, you have never been someone I would have considered being nice. Under normal circumstances, you tell Cicero to shove off, when he just opens his mouth… and telling you someone has fucked up greatly usually makes you having an outburst that raises hell. "

Missy considered his words for a moment. She really was different. She already noticed that herself. Since that night in Markath, she had been in a good mood, nearly happy. But she was a dark, dangerous and intimidating assassin – not someone who was happy.

"I don`t know Nazir, I feel relaxed. Everything is going smoothly at the moment… and I actually had a good night`s rest in Markath", she said shrugging and tossed away the rest of her apple.

Missy was actually quite sure that her good mood lately had nothing to do with the quality of her sleep, but with her encounter with that bloody thief. Even the next morning when she found her necklace gone, she couldn`t really bring herself to be angry. Ok, she would have ripped him into pieces, if he`d still been there, but it seemed she underestimated him.

On the other hand, she couln`t just let this matter rest… After all he damaged her reputation as the most dangerous assassin in Skyrim. That needed punishment… and so there would most definitely be a second encounter. She liked that thought.

"Whatever it is, you did in Markath. I recommend you to do it more often, I kind of like the nice Missy…" Nazir said, handing her a bottle of mead, she seemed to search.

"Whatever it is she did…? She had sex. I can smell that. Welcome back Missy, by the way." Babette said walking into the room. She had heard their voices back in her room and wanted to check what was up.

Nazir debated with himself, if he should dare to ask, but decided:" That`s none of my business and I`m not even sure, if I wanted to know that."

"But I wanna know every dirty detail…" Babette said smiling. She looked for a stool, but there were only two, and those were occupied, so she sat on the edge on of the table. That was rather cute, because of her childish body, she had to jump up there, and now her legs were swinging in the air.

"Like I would tell you…" Missy said to the small vampire girl.

"Oh come on, I may look like a child, but I`m far older than you!" Babette exclaimed.

Missy looked at her and then changed not really subtle the topic:" I guess we need some furniture. I cannot make the novices sleep on the floor forever and I dearly miss taking a good hot bath… I`m already freezing again. Who got that insane idea of building a sanctuary in ice?!"

Nazir smiled lightly at that comment. That was the Missy he knew. "How the hell, did you survive in Skyrim all this time, if you are always cold? But for furniture, you could ask that thief again, you know, Delvin Mallory, you already met him once. He`s not only good at selling stuff, but also at getting stuff. How is our financial situation?"

Missy considered what Nazir just said. Meeting Delvin meant that she would need to go to Rifton. She smiled. "Good enough. I`ll make a list what we need. Do you have any special wishes?"

Babette jumped down from the table, happily exclaiming:" I want a new alchemy lab. I`m kind of afraid the table I`m now using will break down any time soon."

"Ok, I`ll be going in a few days. At least in Rifton it`s not as cold as here…" Missy said, walking to her room to prepare.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Sometime later – in Riften

It had been 5 days now. 5 days since he got that damn message. At first he had thought nothing of it. It wasn`t unusual that couriers brought him messages. Lots of businesses were made that way. What unnerved him was the content: " I am watching you" signed only with a black hand.

Brynjolf sighed. He wasn`t stupid, he knew want that ment. This assassin girl was out there somewhere, seeking revenge for her necklace. He wanted to beat himself for his recklessness. She made it very clear that she wasn`t to be messed with, and yet he did. He hadn`t even sold that necklace yet. By the way, why on earth had he given her his name? oh yeah, he wasn`t thinking with his brain…

With this troubled thoughts Brynjolf slowly made his way to the Riften marketplace, when suddenly he caught from the corner of his eye a black shadow hurrying over the cemetery. Brynjolf froze on the spot, very nervous even more so than before. This was insane, it could have been anyone. For example one of his guild mates. But he couldn`t bring himself to fully believe that. Maybe the point of that bloody assassin lass was not to kill him, but to drive him insane?  
Feeling quite awkward, he made his way to his stand.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

What Brynjolf didn`t knew, was that this wasn`t so far from the truth. Only a few meters away, sat Missy smiling silently to herself and hiding behind a building.

She would have never killed that man, not because of a simple necklace. Her services were far more expensive and she hadn`t have such a nice night in some time, and considering that, it was little compensation. But she didn`t intended telling him that…

No, what she was doing here now was payback. On one hand, she simply had a vengeful nature. Her pride just couldn`t leave him be. On the other hand this was about control. She wanted to show this f**** thief, just who was in control of the situation.

And after all, maybe she had also a little fun toying with him. Only seeing him this morning had made her a bit giddy, for she remembered their last encounter. Well, this one was going to end far less pleasant for him. She fully intended to scare the shit out of him. To make clear that she was the big bad wolf here, and he would be helpless little red riding hood. That thought let her smile grow wider.

Missy dared a look on the marketplace. He already stood behind one stand and arranged some bottles there, from the look of them with portions. What kind of a thief was selling portions?

But her actions seemed to have been already successful. He was glancing around nervously.

She quietly thanked Astrid for her wonderful idea with the messages. It wasn`t all cheap, but always effective. May Sithis be merciful on her soul.

Silently she climbed on the building in front of her and sneaked around the roof. With little effort she got from building to building. Until she was on one behind Brynjolf and disappeared there in the shadows again. She would do that every hour or so, always changing her position. She could have been far more discrete, but she wanted to be seen. And it seemed that she was accomplishing her goals. Some people were turning their heads after her and she knew that this Brynjolf was too. As time passed, he became even more nervous, not paying any attention to possible customers, but scanning the rooftops, if he could see her.

It was nearly midday now, and Missy was done scrambling the rooftops. It was very uncomfortable and she was getting bored. Time to take the next step.

She pulled her hood deeper, so the only thing people could see were her red eyes. She knew by experience that it was enough to get people tremendously scared. Slowly she walked to a bench near the marketplace, form were she would have a good sight. No one really paid attention to her, though she was fully clothed in a dark brotherhood armour. And those who gave her a more closely look, hurried away. That was what she liked about Riften, beside the non-existent snow, people here had a good sense of what was their business and more importantly what wasn`t.

Delighted by her change of location, she stretched her legs in the sun and made eye contact with her favourite thief. He did not seem to be so delighted. In fact he started to sweat and because it wasn`t that warm, Missy assumed it was cold sweat. He was exactly where she wanted him. He was regretting stealing from her with gaze they shared.

She sat there about 20 minutes or so, when a customer stepped into her sight of Brynjolf. She used that moment to retreat into the shadows. If that was possible, it left him even more unnerved.

Carefully sneaking around the town again, Missy made her way to the sewers. She had already been there once and knew what to expect but entering them made her wrinkle her nose. Maybe she was too spoiled for a place like this. With caution she made her way to the so called "Ragged Flagon". Well, ragged indeed… It was a bit sad to leave her little scared thief behind, but after all she was here for business and she was quite sure that after a day like this, he would need a stiff drink.

Within the tavern Missy stayed in the shadows at first. There was no need to raise attention to her since she was a non-expected guest and she didn`t know if Brynjolf had talked about her. She scanned the place to find Delvin Mallory. He sat on the first table near to her and watched his mead. Deliberately she scurried to him, taking the seat opposite to him, without anyone noticing.

When after a minute or so, he still wouldn`t look up, Missy coughed quietly. A bit of attention was obviously needed. Delvin took in a deep breath, looking at her taken aback, but then recognized her from their first meeting. Missy couldn`t supress a smug grin.

"Duh! Well that`s one hell of a surprise, never thought to see ya again… What brings you to visit my humble self?"

Missy leaned in a bit over the table, she didn´t want anybody to listen to them, but was still sure some people would. All gossiping those thieves…

"I need certain things. I was told you could get them." She said, trying to hold on her menacing aura. "What kind of things?" Delvin asked seemingly unaffected. It wasn`t his first business with the brotherhood, you get used to them over the years.

"I made a list" Missy said, handing him the sheet of paper. Delvin took it and quickly ran over the page. "Well, that`s quite a list. Uhh, a whip…?! And a bathtub… and some banners?! That`s a whole new inventory." He pointed out, now interested. "What`s going on with you guys?"

Missy debated whether she should tell him about the recent events. She knew he had been with the brotherhood in the past and Astrid told her that they shared a history, but never revealing any details. She decided that he could at least know the facts.

"Well, in short: We had to move, `cause we had a little dispute with the Penitus Oculatus. They found the sanctuary, killed most and burned it to the ground." She looked in Delvin`s shocked face. She hadn`t talked about it since, especially not with an outsider she barely knew.

"Who survived?" Delvin asked, not sure if he wanted to know the answer. "Only three of us. Nazir, Babette and me. That makes us very busy at the moment." She tried to lighten the mood again a bit.

"Like it or not. That`s the way life goes. I will get ya your stuff. C`mon let`s have a good drink on their damned souls. Vekel! Get us some of your brandy" Missy wanted to refuse, but Delvin seemed as if he was not to be stopped. "So, you`re going to fetch it here or shall I bring it to you, that would cost extra of course."

"I`d like you bring it to Dawnstar. Check in at the Inn there. I will find you then." Missysaid and retrieved a purse from her belt, completely filled with septims.

"Those are 20,000 septims. It will be more than enough to compensate your expanses." Delvin took the purse from her, weighted it in his hand and gave a small whistle.

"You may had quite some misfortune. But broke you certainly not… I suppose that makes you the new leader?!" And there came their drinks. With catching a look at the purse, the bartender gave Missy a surprised glance, but then retreated. He obviously didn`t want to disturb a business so profitable.

Delvin raised his glass and said:" Honour to the dead ones. May Sithis be with them." Missy nodded her agreement and then took a sip form her glass. Ugh, that burned her throat…

Just when they finished the details of the job. Urgent steps could be heard, approaching the tavern.

"Delvin! I need your help. I guess I really fucked something up." Brynjolf said. As he wanted to sit on a stool next to Delvin, he first spotted Missy and all colour left his face. He really was a miserable sight, she nearly pitied him, if she would have been capable of that.

Quickly Missy took, another sip of her drink to hide her grin, while Brynjolf was frozen to the spot. What could have become an awkward situation was quickly solved by Delvin, he invited Brynjolf to sit next to him and said: "Hey! Brynjolf, may I introduce you. This is… ahh, what was your name again, young mistress?! Anyway she is the current leader of the Dark Brotherhood. She sought out our services." Missy chuckled at his words. No one had ever called her mistress, but she had to admit she kind of liked it.

"My name is Missy", she said playing absolutely innocent. Brynjolf had by that point taken a seat, but was nowhere near recovering from his shock.

Missy concluded that he had suffered enough and was about to take her leave.

"Well Delvin, I gotta go. I`m busy as I told. When do you think you can meet me?"

"Give me 2 weeks to retrieve your stuff and another one to get to Dawnstar."

"That`s all right. I`ll be looking forward to it. Has been nice to meet you again", Missy said, trying to be as sweet as she could. Then she left.

Brynjolf watched her going away. It took him another 5 minutes to restore himself.

"This is surreal. I need a drink and then I will tell you a story"


	3. third encounter part 1

AN: It `s wonderful you guys seem to like Missy so much. I really think that most fanfiction lacks of strong woman characters, even though they are mostly written by women. Big thanks to all my reviewers by the way. It is really reasuring to know you like what I write.

This chapter got a bit longer than the others and in the end I parted it into two (Part 1 and 2). I don`t think you will complain... at the moment I have a kind of outburst of creativity, which makes me typing till my fingers bleed =) so stay tuned I`ll probably be bringing up a lot more in short time... now have fun with the third encouter and please leave me a review

Third Encounter – part 1

Some time and a lot of drinks later – still in Riften in the Ragged Flagon

"So let me sum it up. You are telling me that you tried to steal from that girl, but she caught you and threatened to kill you." Delvin said eyeing Brynjolf suspiciously, who was nodding at his words.

"But then instead of killing you, she bedded you and when you were done, you stole her necklace regardless her being an assassin."

Brynjolf nodded again. "Yeah, that`s pretty much it and now she wants my head."

Delvin leaned back and thought for a moment about the situation. "Well, boy, you are in deep shit, but there is one thing I can tell you. She doesn`t want you dead."

"I nearly got a heart attack earlier…" Brynjolf held against that.

"The thing is, that girl, Missy or whatever her name is, I`m pretty much sure that she was the one killing the emperor, you heard the news and I`m also sure that now she is leading the Brotherhood. Don`t you think that if a person like that wants you dead, you are dead? Laying on the ground of Lake Hornrich, with no one of us having the faintest idea about what happened."

The picture that formed in Brynjolf`s head, showing his corpse, made him wince.

"Okay, but if she doesn`t want me dead, want does she want? I feel like she is toying with me, like a cat does with a mouse before killing it. Maybe this is some sick sort of entertainment for her?!" The thought did nothing to calm Brynjolf.

"I`m fairly convinced that she had a lot of fun, but still don`t think she plans to kill ya eventually. I mean, if you die now, we`ll all know that it was her. And it would cause some trouble between the Brotherhood and the Guild. Mercer certainly wouldn`t approve. I don`t think your worth that much to her." Delvin stated

"Thank you very much…" Brynjold responded sarcastically. "About Mercer I`m not really sure by the way. Even if we assume that the lass is not trying to kill me, and I´m still not convinced, I cannot go on like this, always shitting my pants, when she decides to appear again. What can I do?"

"hmmm, your case is not a contract to hear. So she wouldn`t get any money for your decease. Thus, this is a personal thing for her. I`d say, you buy her another even nicer necklace and be prince charming. She is a woman after all – you`re good with women." Delvin suggested, ordering another round of mead.

Brynjolf didn`t like the prospect, but was willing to give it a go. At least she seemed to find him physically appealing. "The thing is normally they don`t threat to kill me. At least not seriously…"

Delvin had a heartily laugh at that. Then grabbed is mead: "Let`s have a toast, on what could be your last night!" Though he did not find that any funny at all, Brynjolf joined in and drank his mead. And even a lot more that evening.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Next morning Brynjolf woke up groaning. His head hurt like hell and he felt as if the contents of his stomach were having a party on their own. Why again was he drinking himself senseless? Oh yeah, that assassin lass wanted him dead… or not… or whatever. Right now he wouldn`t have minded to be dead, this hangover was certainly worse.

Slowly, deliberately he got up. No need to rush anything. Delvin walked up to him smiling and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"You`re lucky, you know…" he said to Brynjolf, who could not bring himself to believe that.

"I talked with Mercer. He agreed that I need you coming with me to Dawnstar, because this assignment is too important to have anyone messing it up."

Brynjolf sat down on a table together with Delvin and held his head in his hands

"What did you want in Dawnstar, again?", he asked, not sure if he was getting the point of this conversation.

"In Dawnstar, we meet the Dark Brotherhood and deliver their furniture." Delvin said slowly, making sure Brynjolf would understand him.

That made something click in Brynjolf`s head. He wanted to give the lass her necklace back. "ahh, now I´m getting it. When are we going?"

"I got the assignment only yesterday. I need at least two weeks, before we can head up there."

"If that is the case, I`ll go back in my bed."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Nearly 3 weeks later, on the road in the middle of nowhere, approaching Dawnstar

Brynjolf sat on the bank in the front of a cart next to Delvin. They had been traveling for nearly a week now. Because the guild had some financial problems at the moment, they couldn`t get the best horse. In fact Brynjolf was doubting that this hack would survive the way back.

With frayed nerves his hand played with the necklace that was secured in his pocket. It was still the same necklace he had stolen that night Markath, but now it had an extra pendant with a red stone. He thought it would fit the best to the grey-lilac colour of Missy`s skin and match those flaming red eyes, which haunted both his nightmares and his more wet dreams.

When he had brought it, yes brought, Madesi the jeweller had thought him to be mad. And maybe he was, after all he had never brought something so expensive for a woman. Usually they didn`t get more than a couple of drinks. But this lass was different. He feared that if he`d taken something too cheap, she would have taken it as an insult and would be even more angry with him. So it had taken him hours to find the right one and then another hour bargaining over the price. By now, he hoped that she would really like the necklace and not only appreciate the gift.

The conversation that was going to come, was a whole different story. He wasn`t good at apologising. The last time he had to for stealing something was probably as a boy. He hoped that it would sound sincere and solve this matter. Sure enough he didn`t want to have this conversation in a dark alley with no one around, in case the lass changed her mind.

This cart was going way too slow, Brynjolf thought, he would die of nervous anticipation before they were even there.

Delvin cast a look at him: "Calm yourself, we`ll be there soon, see over there is smoke in the air. Probably a chimney of Dawnstar."

After bearing this agitated man for one week with no chance of evading him, Delvin was done with pitying. If the girl killed Brynjolf or fancied him, he didn`t care anymore. He was just happy to get off that damn cart.

Finding the Inn was rather easy since Dawnstar was a small town, more a village. The owner seemed to await them. For he welcomed them at the outside of the inn. "Ahh, you must be the gentleman form Riften. Come here, I`ll take care of the horse. Go inside – you must be exhausted…"

Delvin got from the cart first, stretching his muscels and aked :"Is there someone waiting for us? We are supposed to meet business associates here."

The Innkeeper responded while he unsaddled the horse: "Well, currently not, but I was told a few days ago that you would come. And I was already paid for your stay. I am sure he will contact you soon enough." Now, Brynjolf was also down, his anticipation cooling a bit off, knowing that they would not immediately meet, but he was perplex at the gender. "He?!"

The man looked at him baffled. "Yeah, a redguard man, he spoke to me about you, he must be living somewhere around here, he visits my inn rather frequently, but he never told his name and well, I don`t ask if not necessary. Now go in, please. Everything is prepared." The man was obviously not pleased with the way this conversation had taken. There was no need to make him more uncomfortable, Brynjolf thought, he probably didn`t knew anything.

Delvin tugged at his sleeve and mentioned to come in with him. When the two men entered, the villagers turned around and eyed them suspiciously, but then remembered to mind their own business.

A young barmaid walked up to them, saying:" Come here, sirs, we have reserved you a table." And she mentioned to a table a little in the shadows, allowing them as much private space as possible in a small inn. As they were seated she hurried away, probably in the kitchen, for only minutes later she brought food to their table to feed a whole army. Brynjolf had the feeling like his eyes were popping out of his head when the table filled with pots of stew, roasted meat, bred and pies. At last the barmaid brought a can with warm mead.

Delvin did not seem to mind so much and already had his mouth full. "They must have paid them really good…", he said while chewing.

"Am I the only one, who feels that this could be a last meal?", Brynjolf said, but still took a good bite of the roasted meat. "Oh Bryn, you`re becoming paranoid! Enjoy!" Delvin answered shaking his head.

With a sigh, Brynjolf took another bite. It had been some time since he had such a feast. Hopefully they would be joined soon by their "employer". He was sure that the man, the innkeeper had encountered was just another assassin. He couldn`t expect Missy to work alone, but hopefully she would come here for the delivery or he had made this whole way for nothing, not a pleasing thought. He wanted this whole ordeal to end. He tore at his hair and along the way noticed how felted they were. Maybe he should clean himself before meeting her, it certainly helps with being charming.

He waved to the barmaid, who came to him at once. "Is everything ok, can I do something for you?", she asked, maybe a bit nervy.

Brynjolf cleared his throat and said: "Yeah, actually, could you maybe prepare me a bath, please?"

"Sure, no problem sir, it`ll take some time but I call you then." She stated, relieved that she could help.

Brynjolf eyed her fascinated. "They indeed must have paid a lot of money. Those people make quite a fuss on us."

Delvin gulped down the rest of his mead, then pounded on his chest and had a good deep burp. "And another good purse of coin for not asking any questions. But I´d say these villagers don`t want to mess up, since they hope for more. It`s not like there are so many possibilities for making money out here."

Brynjolf chuckled a bit at that. "So the brotherhood is helping to evolve the economy in less developed parts of Skyrim?! How charitable of them"

"In fact it is not. It`s necessary. If they benefit from us, they will never deceive us." Said a redguard man, who seemed to have suddenly appeared behind them. Brynjolf and Delvin both were so astonished they forgot to chew, what they still had in their mouths. The man didn`t seem to bother, he took a seat and purred himself some of the mead.

"I hope you had an uneventful trip here?", he said them, trying to make smalltalk.

Delvin was the first to relax again. "I take it, you are our employer?!", he asked.

"Oh, how rude of me. Yes, I am, but I think my name doesn`t matter. Did you expect someone else?"

That made Brynjolf somewhat uncomfortable. "Yeah, actually I,… we thought to meet the girl again, Missy." Now, he felt ridiculous. "She was the one, who made the contract, after all."

"Ah, well, she is currently indisposed, but I can assure you I am very well able to handle this." The redguard said, ending any discussion.

"I have seen the cart outside. I take it you have all things?!" he asked, going back to business.

"Sure, the whole list. Most weren`t that exotic. Still some stuff is in pieces for better transportation. I hope you have a good carpenter." Delvin joked.

The assassin did not laugh, in fact he wasn`t even twitching. "We´ll find one. I will take the cart with me. We need about a day to unload it and then I will bring it back. You can stay here in the meantime. It is already paid." He stated, in a tone that indicated that this was not up for discussion.

Delvin shrugged. He wasn`t eager to get back on the cart. "Sounds good to me."

Brynjolf on the other hand, was trying to find a way, to get Missy to come here, without rising any suspicion. "Hum, would you mind informing your leader,…, well Missy, don`t know of her exact position, that I´d like to talk with her,… me that is Brynjolf by the way."

Though he would have never shown it, within himself Nazir was chuckling about that clumsy stuttering. "And why should I do that? You can talk with me, if you want to make a contract. Who`s supposed to die?"

Brynjolf`s eyes grew wide. "No one, hopefully, no, she kinda lost something last time we met and I found it and now want to give it back…"

Nazir didn`t believe anything the man said, but that wasn`t his business. "For all I care… I bid my farewll. Pleasure making business with you."

When the redguard assassin was out of the door. Delvin turned to Brynjolf and laughed at him. "That was really the worst I have ever seen of you. If you don`t improve yourself till you speak to the girl, she will most certainly kill you. For annoyance."

Brynjolf didn`t find that any funny at all. But before he could throw back a pissed remark the barmaid from earlier came to their table. "You bath is ready, sir "

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few hours later, in the Sanctuary of the Dark Brotherhood

"I`m back! I got everything so help me carry it inside.", Nazir said walking in. Babette and Missy were sweeping the main hall. The last week they had been carrying everything broken that was in here out, so it was pretty much empty.

"Are you sure no one followed you?", Missy asked putting the broom aside. She was back to normal, what meant that she was latently pissed. Cleaning up was by no means her favourite activity.

Nazir gave her an annoyed look. "I took what felt like a million detours and it`s getting dark outside. Yeah I am sure. But a huge cart just outside beside the door is not unsuspicious, so let`s get this stuff inside.", he said urging them to get going.

"Okay, I´ll get Cicero and the new one, they are up there to train" Missy said equally annoyed. Nazir chuckled, "You let him train with Cicero. You want to scare him off?"

"If he can cope with Cicero, he can handle everything. Besides this way Cicero is occupied and can`t annoy me." Missy explained and went off. She didn`t want the new one to go. They were too few to cope with all that contracts they were getting since the emperor was dead. They needed more assassins and this one seemed quite talented, maybe a bit too eager to impress, but hey he was young. When she entered the room they were using, first thing she heard was Cicero`s shrieking voice. "First you grab them and then you stab, stab, stab, stab them…hehehe"

Seeing the miserable face of her new protégé, she quickly intervened. "Cicero!" The spoken to turned and smiled "ohhh, my beautiful Listener, I did as you requested. Showing the pup some tricks." The nord man standing beside Cicero, even though being fairly young, was properly nearly twice as big as the jester. He was now clenching his teeth, to not say anything false. Missy actually pitied him a bit.

"The cart with our new stuff is here. Please get outside and help unloading it." She said to Cicero and then turned around to the young man watching her.

"Ohhh, new things will make the mother happy… and Cicero, too. Sleeping in a new bed… a real one", Cicero exclaimed happily and then went to go outside.

Missy smiled to the nord beside her: "He can be so annoying, can`t he? If one day he is found with a dagger in his back, it has probably been me." She stated and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

From afar there came a voice: "Cicero, has heard cruel joke of the Listener… hehehe…"

Missy rolled her eyes. "C´mon, … brother, let`s go. We need a strong pair of hands."

The young man watched his leader amused "My name is Yall. In case you forgot."

"No, I would never…" Missy held against that sarcastically "You´re just now our new brother, after all this is a brotherhood."

It took them nearly two hours to unload the cart and to give all that furniture a new place. The new one, Yall, could make himself really beneficial. He was the only one who could build up the beds which were delivered in pieces. Nazir and Missy sat in the meantime at their new table and Babette was cooking food. Cicero had run off some time ago, saying that he wanted to decorate the Night Mother`s room new.

"It was a good idea you brought him here." Missy said mentioning to Yall, who could very well hear them, while he still built up the furniture. "Now, he must only show that he can be an assassin, too"

Nazir smiled, he already knew of Missy`s cruel way of making jokes, but wasn`t willing to help the young man. Every one needed to learn for himself to cope with that, especially since now she was their leader.

Yall turned around and sensed that the comment on his abilities was not meant as insulting as it sounded, but still he could let it uncommented.

"my dear, Lady Missy, I can assure you that I´m very well able to wield a blade even more deadly than this hammer" and he swung the hammer in his hand for emphasis.

"We`ll see, Yall," Missy said smiling, she liked being called a lady "I can take you with me in a few days, I have a few more easy assignments. We`ll do that together, then we`ll decide in what you need training." Yall was a bit surprised at that, he didn`t think he would start working with the leader.

Nazir too was surprised: "You want to take him with you? You never took any beginners with you… ahhh, but then you always had a soft spot for nord men", he said feeling in the mood of joking, though with Nazir it was always hard to tell if it really was a joke.

"I don`t have a soft spot for nord men!" Missy defended herself, her voice slightly raising. Then Barbette entered the room. She wasn`t going to miss a discussion like that and stated:

"Oh, you do. Remember that thing you had with Arnbjorn?! Astrid was freaking out."

Missy had by now folded her arms in front of her body and was pouting. "I never had a thing with Arnbjorn. Never, that was all Astrid`s imagination. He helped me when I was still young and my mentor died, that`s all. We`ve been kinda friends. And even if I`d had, that would be no proof that I prefer nord men – I could prefer werewolf all the same. They are threatened with extinction after all."

Barbette and Nazir were smiling. Her bitching around was a clear indication that they had hit a spot. Then Nazir remembered his conversation with that nord thief.

"Speaking of nord men. When I fetched the cart, the one guy, I think his name was Brynjolf, stuttered around, saying something like he wanted to meet you, since you lost something in Riften and he found it, it was a bit confusing…"

Missy gaped at this statement and jumped up from her seat. "You tell me that now!" she shrieked. "I cannot go like this. I`m all sweaty…", and quickly she disappeared in her quarters. "What was that about?" Nazir asked puzzled. But the others could only shrug their shoulders.

About 15 minutes later, Missy reappeared again. Obviously washed, with fresh clothes underneath her armour and her hair straitened. While she put on her hood, she asked Barbette: "Do you have some kind of fancy perfume? I didn`t have time to have a proper wash."

Barbette still didn`t fully understand what was going on. "The question is what you want to do to that man. Poison him, scare him off or ensnare?" Missy gave her a really menacing look. "What do I want with perfume?! Perhaps smelling good?!" She shot back sarcastically.

Barbette knew Missy long enough for not being offended, but still this was strange. "You owe me one hell of an explanation." She said and mentioned her to follow.

Only a few minutes later Missy clambered out of their secret entrance, smelling of mountain flowers. She knew that her behaviour would later cause many questions, but she couldn`t stop her excitement. When she had left Riften, she had felt kind of sad. Though her pride was back in place, it was a bad thing that now she had no reason to revisit that thief. She really had to admit that she found him attractive. Stealing her necklace had shown her, that he didn`t was as frightened by her as others. Though when she was in Riften she sensed that he regretted doing so, what maybe that disappointed her a bit. But then he was here now. She never had thought that to happen. It seemed that this man was full of surprises.

When she stood outside the inn of Dawnstar, she tried to restrain her breath and calm herself. There was no need to show him her joy over this unexpected encounter. Inside the inn was smoky and quite full of people. In the far corner she spotted Delvin and the man that sat face to face with him was Brynjolf for sure, even though she could only see his back. Slowly she approached them, making eye contact with Delvin and mentioned him to get out of the way.

He understood her hint and got up from his seat: "Well, I`ll go get some sleep. Has been a long day and I look forward to lay down on a proper bed. Good night and good luck" He was only seconds away and before Brynjolf could say anything, Missy sat down facing him.

And once again Brynjolf felt as if he got a heart attack. "Is that some sort of sick entertainment for you guys?! To just pop out of nothing and scare innocent people to their deaths?!" he said trying to regain his composure. Missy had a heartily lough at that. "You are only scared because you are far from innocent, my dear. But if it´d worked, it`d make me by far the best assassin around. Killing people by merely being around…"

Brynjolf looked at her fascinated. He had never before seen her lough so honestly. "well, maybe you are right about that innocent part, but still it`s not funny."

"Oh, stop whining. From what I was told you found my necklace?!" Missy asked, the emphasis on the "found".

Brynjolf smiled smugly. This was his great performance. "Yeah, it just kind of appeared in my pocket. I don´t know how it got there. Must`ve just fallen into it, during our …activities. I wanted to give it back to you last time, but you seemed to hold me responsible for losing it." Missy acted as if she was pouting. "hmpf, that`s just like you. Making yourself the victim. After all it wouldn`t have been the first time you tried to steal from me." She wasn`t going to let him out of this so easily.

"Ah, you wound me, lass", Brnjolf said overacting and clinging his hands to his chest where his heart is. "But I know that I can`t expect anything better considering my reputation. To show you that I have only the best intentions, I got you a nice little thong." Knowing that this would cut her argument against him, he took the necklace out of his pocket and held it to her.

It was by no means easy to render Missy speechless, but in that moment she had nothing to say. Before her he held her delicate silver necklace with a beautiful red jewel as a thong. She lightly touched it with her fingers to see if it was real. No man had ever made her a gift like that.

"This… I… it`s beautiful… ", she stuttered. And then it struck her. He really must believe that she wanted to kill him and tried to buy off his life. She then became bitter, scolding herself for believing that he wanted to impress her. Brynjolf eyed the change in her expression carefully. "What`s up? Don`t you like it?"

"Brynjolf, it really is nice, won`t deny that, but really I can´t accept it. You do this because I scared the shit out of you, threatening to kill you. It`s nice to know that it worked by the way, but you must know it has never been more than a threat really. I never intended to kill you, not for a simple necklace and especially not since falling asleep beside a known thief is kind of negligent."

She shoved his hands offering the necklace back to him. In the meantime Brynjolf suffered a hundred emotions at the same time. Sure he was relieved to know that killing him was never the objective, but then he was disappointed all the same at her refusal.

"That`s is nonsense, lass. Even if you didn`t kill me, you punished me for stealing from the wrong person. That really is a beginner`s mistake. It is my humble being that has to apologise. You after all would have had every right to kill me. Take the necklace, it is yours." With that he got up behind her.

At first Missy wanted to protest further, but then his hands carefully put her hair aside and her heart missed beat. With the utmost caution he tied the necklace behind her neck. His fingertips caressing the skin beneath, made goose bumps on all her body. When he sat back down, she looked at him like a mouse facing a snake. "It really suits you", he said and he could have sworn to see her blushing. For a moment they just looked at each other in awe.

Missy was the first to break the awkward silence. "You want some mead? I`m paying."

Bryjolf nodded in agreement, but didn`t want to call her attention to the fact that she indeed was paying his whole stay here. As always the barmaid was more than eager to fulfil their wishes. Only a moment later she brought them two cups of mead and another bottle. "That is snowberry liqueur. It`s on the house." And quickly she hurried away.

Missy looked at the woman, shaking her head. "They make quite a fuss on us here. It`s exaggerated really." Brynjolf chuckled, having had the same conversation with Delvin earlier. "Either they are very well paid or they are scared. You tell me which one it is."

"hmm, they get enough compensation, but not enough to get rich and though I think they have suspicions on who we are, we never acted on it. In contrast to common believes we don`t run around like maniacs and kill everybody within ten feet range." The thought had her smiling a bit. Brynjolf was now debating his own prejudices of the brotherhood.

"I must admit, lass, my beliefs weren`t that far from it. From the moment I found out you were brotherhood, I expected you to kill me, up until only a few moments ago. I mean you didn`t do much, but you scared the shit out of me. Never thought I could sit here with you talking so unagitated." He really was relaxed, now he found out that the lass was human after all. And seeing her laughing like right now, had him joining in. He decided that he really liked seeing her laughing. It made him forget that she in fact was a menacing, intimidating assassin, but it showed him the woman behind that hood, the very beautiful woman by the way.

She then stated: "I must admit though, I won`t tell anyone otherwise. Being known as blood thirsty and stone cold killers, is good for the business. You would do well also keeping that façade." She then poured then both some of that liqueur.

Rising his cup Brynjolf exclaimed "Well, then let´s drink on blood thirsty assassins then and don`t you be afraid, I learned my lesson." With one gulp both drained their cups.

"mmmhhh, I like that stuff. It`s sweet." Missy remarked, but Brynjolf didn`t really heard her. He was far too occupied watching her tongue sliding over her lips, licking off the rest of the liqueur. It made him swallow hard for he had to remember their night together. What could have become a very heated moment, was quickly disturbed by Missy`s stomach announcing rather loud, that it was empty and not happy with it. Again, Brynjolf thought her cheeks were reddening for embarrassment, but it was hard to tell with her dark skin.

Glancing down she stood up and said: "I guess I´ll get some food, do you want some too?" This behaviour was rather cute and Brynjolf tried to make eye contact with her, smiling. "No thank you, lass, I just had the feast of my life a couple of hours ago."

When she returned she held in her hand a pot of stew and a whole pie. "You must be indeed hungry" he mused. She only shrugged her shoulders "I`m used to such portions. When I joined the brotherhood I was really skinny. They fed me up a whole year, until they said I look healthy." Brynjolf remembered the body he had seen some time ago. It was by no means fat, she more had the delicate curves all elven races had. One could say skinny compared to nord women. He didn`t really wanted to know what she looked like before.

"It was kind of funny, when I claimed that I really had gained enough weight by now. They all started commenting on my bosom, and how it had grown and I was like, really that is none of your business…" The memory made her smile. It had been better times back then. Her mentor had still been alive and trained her. Astrid was already their leader, but there hadn`t been this antipathy back then.

In the meantime Brynjolf`s thoughts got struck on the topic of her bosom. He decided that he liked the size. Not as big many woman he had slept with before, but he found it very fitting compared to the rest of the body. As Missy called him from his daydreaming, he felt a bit ashamed, as if she had read his thoughts. "Sorry, I wasn`t listing for a moment, what did you say?", he said trying not to look her in the eye.

"I asked, if I could ask you a question, concerning your profession?"

"Sure, no problem, you wanna join us?" He said, thankful for her changing the topic.

"Nah, I have enough work already and it would be like having one`s cake and eat it, too." Brynjolf internally noted that he felt a bit disappointed. "But when I watched you in Riften on the marketplace, I saw you were selling potions. Don`t be offended, but you look in no way like an alchemist, and it doesn`t really fit this whole thievery thing either."

"Are you indicating, lass, that I am not the upright merchant, as whom I´m well known?" Brynjolf said, playing as if he pouted, but Missy was having none of it: "You are as upright as I`m maiden-like." She by now nearly had emptied her stew pot.

"Ah lass, you`re not one to be fooled. You must know thievery is more than just pickpocketing. Although that is one of my talents also, I`m specialised as a conman and imposter. In those bottles is merely coloured water." He watched her "attacking" the pie, the stew seemed to have been only the starter. She treated that pie with a lot of care and when she bite into it, her face showed a great amount of pleasure, she took from that. Brynjolf never before wanted to be a pie.

"Aand there are really people buying that?", Missy asked with her mouth full.

Brynjolf tried not to stare, but it was hard. "Yeah, wouldn`t believe it myself if I wouldn`t be the one profiting. Seriously most people are easy to play. More of a problem is, being away when they find out that you deceived them." Brynjolf found himself telling her a story about a particularly nasty time, where he sold a city guard a "portion" for enhanced potency that ended with him in jail. That made her chuckling still with mouth full, but there wasn`t anything left on her plate.

She started to lick all her fingers, because they were sticky from that pie. Once again on that evening Brynjolf had to swallow hard. Was she doing this on purpose? He knew that she was far from innocent in this matter.

This time though it was written plainly all over his face and Missy saw it. She wasn`t sure what to make out of it and licked her thump one last time, then quickly smeared the rest on her trousers. Up until now she had been sure that he was just being friendly. That night in Markarth she had more or less forced him. She had never thought that he might have been really attracted to her. She was going to see how far that went.

"Another round?" she asked, indicating to the bottle of liqueur. "Sure" Brynjolf answered, he felt like he needed to cool his head.

So over time they were sharing that bottle and some good stories of their life. He noticed that the lass was getting a bit tipsy, she obviously couldn`t handle the alcohol so good. But then he wasn`t going to complain, it made her giggling at his comments and she more openly talked about herself. Her attempts at flirting where getting bolder also. And though it didn`t left him cold, he was debating if he should act on it. When he did, this wouldn`t be a nice one night stand anymore. Together with this nice evening they shared it was likely to get more, but did he want that?

While he was debating, she had gone to the counter and paid their drinks. When she came back she sat down beside him. Laying her hand on his thigh.

"Brynjolf, I don`t want to make myself ridiculous. Either you ask me now stay here for the night with you or I`ll go home." He felt her warm hand through his pants, her small frame touching his and in this moment his body made the decision that he was not going to sleep alone this night. His head screamed at him that this was a mistake and that it would have consequences, but it was quickly shut down when he leaned in and kissed her.

AN: I apologise humbly for the cliffhanger. The second part is allready halfway done and I am confident that I can update it within this week.


	4. third encounter part 2

AN: hey, here we go again =) You guys are some cruel people, laughing at poor Brynjolf having a heartattack... but then I´m not better...  
I´m unsure if I pictured him too soft in this chapter, please let me know your opinion in a review. By the way to avoid misunderstandings: Missy will not be the dragonborn. In fact the dragonborn will not appear in this story.  
Then have fun! (it´s getting hot agian =)

Third Encounter – part 2

Sometime later, still at the Dawnstar inn, but in another room

"mmmmhhhh…" was everything Missy found herself able to say right now. Brynjolf lay behind her. His naked chest pressed against her equally naked back and his mouth was still nibbling on her neck. She hadn´t felt so relaxed in possibly ever and not so exhausted…

Unlike their first encounter, he hadn`t let her take the lead, but had her struggle for it. She tended to be a bit impatient in these things, but he wouldn`t let her rush too much. Not that she would complain. While she tried to make him as horny as possible to get to the point of this, he took his time exploring every inch of her body with his hands. He slowly, far too slowly for her likening, freed her of her clothes, kissing every inch of skin that he could reach.

As she once again tried to urge him to pick up the pace, he chuckled:" We got all time in the world, lass, the more you push, the more I`ll torture you", he said with a devilish grin.

She wanted to protest, she really wanted, but Brynjolf would have none of it. He took her hands in his and pinned them over her head. With him laying on top of her, he effectively had immobilized her that way. Though she could have fought him off, she didn`t want to. Her mumbled protests quickly became moans, when he restarted his exploration of her body, this time with his mouth.

Remembering the feeling of his mouth everywhere on her body, made her getting wet again. Although she was wholeheartedly satisfied, she considered a second round.

In the meantime behind her Brynjolf had more or less the same thoughts, as his hands couldn`t stop roaming over her body and his head was buried in her hair, that smelled discreetly of a flower-perfume. But still her body occupied his thoughts the most. The flesh of her abdomen and her hips that he could feel beneath his hands, made him shudder. It wasn`t soft like he was used to with woman, but then she wasn`t bony either. It were her muscles. It felt fascinating for him, like nothing he had ever experienced before. The lass was a practised warrior, he had known that as a fact, but now he felt it.

Her well trained abs tensed and relaxed when he lightly stroked them with his fingers. It made him remember the beautiful sight he had, when she had climaxed underneath him, her whole body tensing and shuddering. The thought made him grow hard again, and he was sure that she noticed for she wriggled herself as if unintended even closer against him. Her bottom rubbing his hardness.

Before he could say anything a groan escaped his lips. "Be careful, lass, there is not much restraint left." She giggled at that, clearly not interested in his restraint for she turned around to face him and kiss him passionately. While he was occupied that way, her sneaky hand found her way between their bodies and started to stroke his cock.

As it came totally unexpected, Brynjolf`s eyes rolled back and he lay down on his back. This gave Missy the opportunity to climb on top of him. His eyes were closed and his mouth was slightly open, while he enjoyed her actions.

His hands grabbed her thighs, as he felt like he needed something to hold on to. Missy used this moment to openly watch the man underneath her. Sure he was well build with muscles in all the right places, but then it looked natural not so puffed up like many warriors she had slept with before. With one hand she caressed his torso, it was covered lightly with soft red hair, while the skin was perfect white. She smiled and twirled one of his nipples. That had him hissing in pain and buckling, for she still stroked his cock in a gently tortures rhythm. He knew better than to complain, this was Missy`s revenge. Her smile grew wider and became smugger, when she leaned down and attend to the other nipple with her teeth.

His arousal then became unbearable. "Missy…, can`t hold back myself forever…" She then took him inside her with one smooth movement, which left then both moaning.

When she started moving her hips, she grabbed his chin and made him look at her. "If you come before me, you are so dead…" and did her best to look earnest. The problem was that her dominate manner pushed him even more, but then he wasn`t going to take a chance, not with this woman.

Once his eyes were open, he admired the body moving on top of him. From his position he could watch those wonderful abs, he had adored before. His right hand sneaked from her thigh up to her breasts, cupping and massaging one. Pleased with seeing her throw her head back, the hand found her way down to where their bodies met. Without any effort he found her most sensitive spot and started stroking it. It did not take long till that extra sensation sent her over the edge.

While climaxing she clawed on his thighs with her fingernails. The pain and the feeling of her inner walls clenching, had him also coming.

She leaned down again, this time kissing him soft. God, this woman was indeed going to kill him… but then dying while he was sleeping with a beautiful woman, seemed like an option… For a moment the whole world seemed at peace.

But all romance that could have evolved at this point, was quickly destroyed by her saying: "I need to pee…" and up she was putting on small clothes and nearly running out of their room. It seemed urgent then…

Like he got a slap, everything that was wrong about this, broke in on Brynjolf. But then he had never met someone like her and he knew that he was already way too deep in it to back off now. Whatever "it" was… He wasn`t one for romantic life-long relationships, but he`d be damned if he`d let her walk away from him.

Brynjolf sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing his face. This was going to get complicated.

In that moment Missy came back, and started picking up the rest of her stuff. "I´m sorry, it was really urgent. The sun is already rising outside. I need to get back, the others will be the more suspicious the longer I stay away. And there is work waiting…"

Brynjolf couldn`t help, but feel cast aside at her business-like manner. "Hum, sure…" He got up then, but didn`t really know how to act. He knew very well how to seduce women, but he had no experience at making them stay. "Is it likely that we ever meet again?", he asked scratching his head and looking at her defensively. Missy then froze on the spot and looked at him astonished, maybe scared. For a moment nobody said anything and Brynjolf felt ridiculous.

"C`mon, lass, I didn´t ask you to run off with me, marry me and have a bunch of children…", he tried to joke and lighten the mood a bit. He walked over to her and took her in his arms. "I just enjoyed our activities… and maybe I´d like to repeat it sometime.", he mumbled kissing her neck, so he didn`t have to look her in the eye. She visibly relaxed and leaned onto him.

"I`m sorry, I just have so much work to do and I`m still not used to being the leader, it`s not an easy task and… when I`m around Riften I can surely pay you a visit. Believe me this has nothing to do with you, it`s just the wrong time…"

Brynjolf knew when he was being rejected, even though she tried to put it in nice words. Still, he couldn`t hide his disappointment. He let his arms drop from her body. Suddenly Missy felt incredibly cold and seeing his sad face made her feeling miserable.

"It`s totally okay, lass, I understand that better than others, I guess…". He took a step away from her to bring some distance between himself and her enticing body. Suddenly he became aware of his nakedness and it gave him a good excuse to turn around to regain his clothes.

Missy then felt as if she made a huge mistake, but then there was no other option, maybe at another time at another place. "I need to get going. Have a good trip back and give my greetings to Delvin", she said and was out. It took all her self-control not to look back.

Brynjolf finished dressing and then sat down on the edge of the bed again. How foolish had he been? But until a few moments ago, it had always been him saying words like these. This life they both lead wasn`t made for relationships or even just affairs, it was too dangerous to get entangled in feelings. In the end it would only lead to heart breaking. That was what he, himself, had told all the youngsters…

She had done the right thing. It seemed he tended to not think with his brain wherever that lass was concerned… He should get back to Riften. He also had a job to do. The guild needed him more than ever.

He didn`t know how long he had sat there, but when he heard the first sounds of people, he made a decision. He would not grieve for what could have become an affair…

When he came out of his room, Delvin already sat on a table and had breakfast. Before he could say anything Brynjolf raised his hand: "I`m alive, that`s all you need to know. As for the rest I don`t want to talk about it." He said, sitting down and taking some of Delvin`s bred, who in return gave him a dirty look.

"There is no need. These walls are quite thin."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Missy tried to sneak back in the Sanctuary as silent as she could and that was indeed very silent. But still not enough… Barbette caught her on her way to her quarters.

"So, I think you owe me an explanation…" , she said eying her leader from head to toe. Missy really didn`t felt like talking, but then she was far too tired to fight Barbette off.

"Okay, but you help me getting water for a hot bath first." She said and mentioned the girl to follow her.

When her body sunk in the hot water, it relaxed for the first time since leaving the inn and a contended moan escaped her. Barbette in the meantime got comfortable sitting on her desk.

"Okay, what do you want to know?", Missy asked. Barbette folded her arms. "Who is that man? From where do you know him? And is he cute?"

Missy had to smirk at the last question, oh yes he is. "He`s a thief from the guild. You remember, when I came back from Markath a couple of weeks ago? That was when I met him for the first time. He tried to steal from me, by seducing me."

"But you would have none of it?!", Barbette asked, annoyed that she had to ask after the details.

"Not the stealing part, but then the seducing…. Uhm… well basically he had to make up for trying to steal from me. But then he did afterwards… that wasn`t very knightly." Missy told. The memories made her smile.

"That man must be reckless! Did you punish him?", Barbette asked excited.

"Sure, couldn`t let the matter rest, could I? Scared to shit out of him, when I was in Riftn. That was essentially why he came to Dawnstar. He really thought I would kill him… gave me this beautiful necklace as an apology." And she held the necklace, which was still around her neck, to Barbette. The little vampire girl was astonished. "I should remember that. Scare the men and they make you expensive gifts. What does he look like?"

"What can I say… good?! He`s a nord, with red hair, well built, but not too much. Intelligent and sneaky, probably a masher…" The thought made Missy wince. She still considered him her thief.

Barbette laughed at that. "So it`s a nord man again, huh?" she asked, referring to the conversation they had the day before.

Missy splashed a bit of water at her. "Oh stop it!", she exclaimed. Barbette raised her hands in defence. "Ok, I´ll drop that matter. You are going to see him again?"

Suddenly Missy`s expression grew serious. "I don`t think so. He asked kinda the same question… when we were done earlier… I told him I don`t have time for an affair. There is so much work to do at the moment… He didn`t took that good, I guess…" She knew she had been rather cold to him, but then that was the reality of the situation.

Barbette couldn`t believe her ears. "Gods, Missy, you have turned him down? An open invitation like this? You are cruel." Missy snorted at that, she wasn`t aware that she had done anything wrong.

"It`s not like I wouldn`t like him. But this life, we both lead, it is not made for… whatever this was or could have been. Eventually you always get mixed up with your feelings… and eventually someone would find out he`s my lover. The lover of the leader of the Dark Brotherhood. It would make me susceptible to blackmail or worse. They capture him and torture him for information. Besides I can`t spend half my time in Riften… really, this was a nice one-night-stand or more two-night-stand and it should stay this way." Missy hoped her voice didn`t sound as bitter as she felt in this moment.

She had done the right thing. But damn, she had enjoyed those hours with him. For the first time since this whole ordeal with the night mother had started and Astrid freaking out, she had felt relaxed, somewhat safe, while he had hold her. Like she had a break to catch her breath, before she had to reload all that responsibility on her shoulders.

Barbette watched Missy from afar. She didn`t want to disturb her thoughts, but she had never looked so lonely in the whole time she had known her. Maybe that was because she never really had paid attention. Astrid to whom Barbette had been close, gave her the impression that Missy was a bitch for messing with Arnbjorn and up until now, she had never really questioned it.

"Missy?" Barbette asked to snap her back in this world. "You said yesterday that you never had a thing with Arnjorn, is that really true? Because Astrid was sure about it. And if you hadn`t, all of her actions at the end were futile."

Missy looked at her nodding with a serious expression. "Indeed they were. I swear, I never ever had an affair or anything like that with Arnbjorn. I won`t say I were totally against it though, but he would have never betrayed Astrid. He stayed faithful to her till their deaths." The expression on her face became more pained. "If that is the case, why would she believe such a thing?", Barbette asked.

Missy sighed. Arnbjorn had for a long time been the only one she would have considered a friend, but when those rumours spread, he had withdrawn from her, for saving his marriage. It had hurt her more than she would ever admit.

"Astrid couldn`t stand me from the very beginning, but we could cope. Then Bartholomew, my mentor died on a mission and Arnbjorn took over me and trained me further. I think it wasn`t him being charitable. Astrid had been declared leader just recently and didn`t have a lot of time for him. So he kind of searched a new task and found me. He took me hunting with him and we went on missions together. I think that was when Astrid started to become jealous. I mean, they used to do those things together, before." Missy`s heart became heavy with the thought of those times.

Barbette looked at her and felt sorry. "I think I have to apologise for judging you." She really had the urge now to give Missy something back for everything she had lost and especially for everything she had done to keep the Brotherhood from being deleted.

"You should really pay your thief another visit." Barbette said, jumping from the table and when she was nearly of the room, she added: "It was a rather nice change, that you had someone else for bitching around." The splash of water that followed couldn`t hit her anymore and therefore just strained the floor.

Missy leaned back in her bathtub and grumbled: "I don`t think so…"

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Two weeks later

Missy had taken Yall with her on two assignments. She had to admit he was good with his sword and axe, but not subtle at all. She knew by now that she could never use him for the more unsuspicious tasks. No he was one for a brute massacre. It wasn`t that much of a problem, you need those people, too. But she was determined to make him learn a bit more than that, if only to give him a variety of possibilities. At the moment she tried to show him how to shoot with a bow, but he was really untalented with that and she wasn`t the most patient teacher. A bad combination.

"Ok, you stretch the bowstring, you aim, you go…" she said to the young man in front of her. He tried to do as she said, but the arrow missed the dummy by far.

"Oh, c`mon, this isn`t really that difficult!" Missy shouted in his direction. She took an arrow, shot it and it plugged deep in the head of the dummy.

Yall stood in front of her scared. For a moment he had thought that the arrow was aimed for his head. His father had been a stromcloak officer. A strong intimidating man. Up until this moment he had thought him to have been merciless, when he had taught him to use a sword.

But this was worse. Compared to this woman his father had been an angel. Even though she was about a head smaller than him, he was really afraid that she would behead him if he fucked up another time.

Nazir stood in a safe distance. He had been listening for nearly an hour now and he felt like he should intervene to save the boy from getting skinned alive.

Ever since Missy had spent that night with that thief, her temper had been unpredictable. She was bitching around worse than ever. He didn`t knew what had happened back then and he wasn`t going to ask, but clearly Missy had to solve this matter with this man and he would give her the perfect opportunity.

Making as much sound as possible, so they would hear him, he came out of the shadows. Both turned around and Yall gave him a pleading look.

"Missy, I got a note from Maven Black-Briar. She has something to do for us. I guess, it would be best if you go, you know her." Missy gave him an annoyed look. "Couldn`t you have come later, we are training!" she asked, always on the edge of losing her temper completely.

"I figured you had enough training. Really, Missy, you need fresh air." Nazir hoped dearly that he would survive this conversation.

For a moment Missy thought she would lose her sanity. Barley restrained she turned around to Yall. The young man had the feeling as if he would burn to ashes under her gaze.

"You stay here and practice!", she ordered and handed him roughly the bow, she was holding.

Totally scared he muttered a silent: "Yes, ma'am." But she hadn`t heard it for she had already been storming out.

Quietly he thanked Nazir for saving him, but the man only nodded at him.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ever since Brynjolf had been back from Dawnstar, he threw himself into his work. No one was leaving the Flagon unemployed, he made sure of that. He knew the only way to get through these hard times was by working even harder. Before he had shared this depressive, lethargic mood, but know he was desperate to get it out of here. This place used to buzz with life, even more so than the marketplace above. And he wound be damned if he couldn`t get it this way again.

At first the others thought that he had lost his mind and they still weren`t fully convinced that he hadn`t. But then, they complied none the less, but not eager enough for Brynjolf`s taste. It seemed like they just wandered off, so they didn`t had to fight him and Mercer wasn`t helping at all. It always seemed like he was working on something completely different and as if he didn`t want to know what was actually going on, because if he`d knew he would have needed to do something about it.

Brynjolf felt like a lone warrior. Sometimes that made him desperate. Even when there were errands coming in, they usually ended badly or they had more expanses for healers and portions than what came in. He didn`t knew their exact financial situation, but he wasn`t a fool, they couldn`t go on like this for long. Maybe after all Delvin was right about them being cursed.

But Brynjolf wasn`t a man to give up so easily, he would bring his guild back to its former glory or he would die trying it.

And then some god, whoever it was, felt sorry for them and sent this girl. He had picked her up a few days ago at the marketplace. She was new in Riften, that had been obvious, and she was running low on coin. She tried to mask it, but that couldn`t delude Brynjolf.

He didn`t know why he had asked her to do a job with him. It certainly wasn`t a beginners task and she was very reluctant at first, it even seemed she considered running to the guards for a moment. But the offer of money had the desired effect. She tried her best and Brynjolf watched her discreetly while causing a distraction. He was amazed. This girl had a huge talent. He had to have her in the guild, no matter what.

When they had talked later, he did his best to be as charming and inviting as he could, but she wasn`t convinced. It seemed she had a moral problem with doing this and felt sorry the man she had tricked. Brynjolf did his best to make her throw that in the wind. She was interested in the gold though. That gave him hope.

And now, she stood here in the Flagon in front of him. "Well, lass, you gotta let me ask, why did you come here eventually?" The woman in front of him looked nervously around.

"I didn`t want to… but then I couldn`t find myself an …acceptable job and I just started taking care of my grandma, she´s old, she needs the help, but she doesn`t have the money for the two of us. So I came here, you said there was good coin to earn... by the way there is no need to call me lass all the time. My name is Greta. I told you."

Brynjolf chuckled. He would have driven out those moralities from her soon. "Maybe I like calling you lass" he answered sickly sweet. It made the girl blush.

He put an arm around her shoulders and pushed her further into the tavern. "Then let me introduce you to the crew." The others couldn`t understand his enthusiasm concerning this girl, but then they at least welcomed her as nice as they could. Afterwards he gave her a small errand to collect debts in the town to test her further.

Brynjolf got himself a mead and sat across from Delvin, smiling happily. "So, you are already done with your assassin girl, are you?" Delvin asked interested in these new developments. Brynjolf on the other hand looked at him puzzled. He didn`t knew what Missy had to do with this.

"Oh, c´mon, don`t you tell me you haven`t even considered bedding that Greta-girl? She`s all fair. Your typical nord girl with long blond her and big blue eyes and curves in all the right places…" Smirking dirty, Delvin leaned back. Brynjolf had to admit that the girl was rather cute, but she didn`t quickened his appetite. "A bit young, isn`t she?" he mumbled.

"That didn`t stop you ever." Delvin considered. Now, he was really interested as he had a feeling like he had hit a point.

Brynjolf groaned. Why the hell had Delvin to mention Missy?! He had done a good job blocking her out of his thoughts so far. Greta would have been his perfect prey in the past, but now he didn`t even considered it now. The thoughts that she would be so easy to play and that he could make her do everything, had suddenly become entirely boring to him. It had been so much more fascinating, laying with someone who could challenge him. Maybe even play him.

Gods, he had known this woman for merely two nights and she had made him a pantywaist.

AN: You wracked about how Missy gets involved in the Thieves guild questline and with this chapter I gave you the answer: She´s just not. It had been my plan in the beginning, but with the way this evolvs, I figuered it wouldn`t suit her working for Brynjolf. That´s why I introduced an antagonist. Let me know what you think of Greta and stay tuned !


	5. fourth encounter

AN: This one is a kind of short interlude, but it´s importend none the less. I would like to remind you at this point of the Rating (-M), we´ve already had graphic sex scenes, but now Missy is pissed and is bitching around, so here is the warning for swearing; and in the next chapter (which going to be devided again) there is some action coming up,  
I acutally had my problems with finding the right dose of insults. In the end I tried to keep it light, but significant. In Germany it´s not that much of a problem to say all these bad words, (like the one with f) in articels or even the television, but I know that other countries have stricter rules. Please tell me your opinion in a review.

Fourth encounter

5 days in the wilderness of Skyrim had done good to Missy`s mood. She had avoided the main roads and just oriented by the mountains, always going south-east. Just her and Shadowmere. Although it was cold and sleeping on the floor, is by no means comfortable, it made he somewhat relax. She knew that she hadn`t been fair to her brothers and sisters.

This situation that everyone seemed to want something at every time got to her nerves. When she was on a job, she already thought about the next one and in the meantime tried to teach the greenhorn something. Nazir had been right to send her off alone.

She sat at the entrance of a cave not far from Riften. It had been raining all day and she decided that Maven could wait a day longer. She had taken her stuff from Shadowmere and mentioned him to come with her in the dry cave, but the horse hadn`t been interested and just wandered off. Missy didn`t bother with making a fire. Wouldn`t burn anyway… she just sat down pulling her cloak tighter.

She wanted to be a strong and good leader to her fellow assassins, but she felt at the moment she was doing a poor job. In those last months she had never had the time to think about it. She wasn`t a born leader, not at any point. She had always been something like a lonesome wolf. The world and no one in it had never cared about her, and she didn`t care about them. And damn she had been fine with it. And suddenly she had all of this responsibility on her shoulders. It made her sick.

She never had wanted it in the first place. She had been fine with how the things had been. Why did Astrid have to go mad? Maybe that is what this position does to you. Missy was talking to a corpse after all… or more listening. When she looked out in the rain, she thought that until a few weeks ago, she could have easily wandered off. Maybe to Morrowind. The land of her forefathers. She had never been there. But she wasn`t one to just run off. No one there was able to take her position, especially because of the nightmother. No, she needed to be strong. She would fulfil the task that had been committed to her. She just needed a break sometimes.

Maybe she should try to go fishing again. She had done that before. Arnbjorn had laughed about it, but then he was astonished at how calm she had been afterwards. That was a great idea. When she was in Riften, she would go to the local store and see if they had a fishing rod.

But then when she thought about Riften, her mood dropped back down. She didn´t like the thought of getting under people again. And there still was the matter about him. She couldn`t help, but debate if Brynjolf had already moved on and found another girl. Surely he had plenty of possibilities. Why was she even thinking that? She had been the one to brush him off, rather roughly as she had to admit. Probably meeting him was inevitable in Riften. She would deal with him, when he stood in front of her.

Missy got snapped out of her thoughts by Shadowmere standing beside her and nudging her head. She got up and stroked his head. She wasn`t sure how long she had sat there, but the rain had lessened a lot. If she hurried the rest of the way she could be in Riften just after nightfall. The prospect of a hot bath made the idea inviting. Her armour kept her from getting really wet, but then her body was still damp. Her hair was soaking wet. She was cold. Her back and her bottom were aching. Yeah, she was whining and she had every reason to. Grabbing her stuff, she mounted Shadowmere and was on en route again.

As if there was someone plotting against her, Missy was stopped just outside the city gates of Riften.  
"Stop, you can only pass, if you pay a visitors tax!" a man said. It had already become dark and he could only see that there was someone approaching, but not who.

Missy tried her best to calm herself. There was no need for unnecessary kills. This man probably didn`t knew who stood in front of him, so she walked up to him and gave him a close look. The man suddenly had a feeling like he had made a huge mistake. The look this woman gave him, made him insecure. She looked like a predator, watching her prey, ready to spring into action. Then she came even nearer and said with a low, determined voice: "I don´t think so". Her red eyes seemed to pierce him.

Slowly has if not to provoke her, he stepped aside and opened her the gate. Although nothing had really happened, Missy´s mood was falling free and she had the giant urge to crush something.

The town was quite silent. Not many people were on the street anymore and those who were, quickly hurried to their destination. Only from the inn, the Bee & Barb, came sounds. Missy stopped just outside the door. From inside she could hear voices talking and singing. She took a breath and tried to remind herself that for getting a hot bath she needed to get in here. Slowly she opened the door, entered and closed it silently behind her. Last thing she wanted was rising any attention to her person. Deliberately she made her way to the counter, where the argonian innkeeper worked.

"Sorry, miss, I need a room for the night." The woman looked up from her work and gave her scrutinizing look. But she knew better than to ask questions. Especially because Missy had taken some septimes out of her pocket and laid them on the counter.

"Sure. You have been here before, haven`t you? You can take the room above. You know the way." The argonian woman said. Missy took another few coins out and laid them to the others. "I need a bath. Can you please prepare me one." She asked.

The Innkeeper took the coins and counted them. Then she smiled. "No problem, miss. But it´ll take some time. There a lot to do here at the moment. Why don`t you have dinner first? Take a seat I´ll bring you something." Missy nodded at that and found herself a table in a dark corner. She really had no interest in dealing with other people tonight.

The whole conversation between the argonian innkeeper and the dunmer woman had been watched by a young woman, standing aside the counter. The fact that this unknown woman could give away her money so freely made her interesting. There was probably a lot more in her pockets. When this woman seated herself in a dark corner, Greta saw her opportunity. She stalked behind her and sat on the table next to hers.

Missy knew when she was being watched. It was a necessary skill in her line of work. But she still wasn`t interested in dealing with other people, so she ignored it. Could this day really get any worse?

Her follower on the other hand it seemed wouldn´t just leave her be and sat down near her, back to back. Really not expertly… maybe it was someone from the guild who wanted to rob her. Missy kind of liked the thought for it would give her the perfect excuse to beat someone up badly. And as if she was some kind of a mentalist, she felt a hand sneaking in her pocket. She smiled, turned around in an unbelievable fast motion, grabbed the head of the person sitting behind her and pushed it down hard on the table face forward.

The noise made some people around look what happened, but the angry glance of Missy made them quickly turn away as if nothing happened. When she pulled the head back up, she had the first opportunity to give this person a closer look. It was a young nord woman. Her pretty face somewhat spoilt by the blood that was running out of her nose. Her eyes watched Missy very frightened. She didn´t tried to fight, although Missy had an iron grip on her hair that must have been painful. Clever girl, if she had struggled, she had been beaten up unconscious.

"You`re with the guild?" she asked, stretching the girl´s neck so she would have to look her in the eye. "uhm, yes…", Greta didn´t feel like she should take any chance with this woman.

Missy released her gip and gave her a sour look. "Then you should know better than to steal from me. Brynjolf should have told you that. Now, get out of my sight."

Greta didn´t need to be told that twice. In a blink of an eye she was out of the inn and hurrying away. She first stopped to catch her breath when she entered the Flagon. Everybody turned around, she hadn´t bothered to be silent. Brynjolf was the first to speak:

"Gods, lass, what happened to your face?" Always playing he worried mentor, he shoved her to a stool and made her sit down. Greta wanted to answer, but she was still panting heavily. Probably more because of the adrenaline rushing through her veins than from her little run. Her hands were also shaking. Warily she tried to wipe the blood from her face with the back of her hand. Only then she felt how much it hurt and hissed in pain. Gratefully she took a clean piece of cloth that Brynjolf handed her. He watched her worried. That girl was pretty shaken, like she had seen a ghost, but ghosts usually don´t break one´s nose.

"I… think… I tried to steal from a woman… at the tavern… but seems she noticed. Smashed me pretty bad on the table…" Slowly Greta relaxed. "But then I guess I must be thankful, she didn´t call the guards. I´m so stupid… had a weird feeling about her from the very beginning, but then she had good coin…" Brynjolf relaxed too. Nothing really bad had happened and she probably wasn´t too badly injured. He sat down across from her. "You should never let your greed overcome your gut instinct, lass. But don´t be sad, we all had to experience that."

Delvin who sat a bit further away from them and had listened the whole time, chuckled: "Yeah, especially our Brynjolf here can tell you one hell of a story about stealing from the wrong person. It`s X-rated though…" Brynjolf turned around and gave him an annoyed look, but Greta looked surprised: "That's about the same thing that woman said… that you should have told me not to steal from her."

Now Brynjolf was surprised too. "Did she mention my name? What did she look like?" Greta felt a bit taken aback at his sudden change of behaviour.

"er, she`s a dunmer, young, but not a teenager, wore a black armour… what´s up?" While she had described the woman, Brynjolf had jumped from his seat and ran out. Greta didn´t understand anything that was going on, maybe her head had been hurt worse than she thought. She looked at Delvin. He was laughing hard. "What´s so funny?"

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the meantime in the Bee & Barb Missy had quietly finished her meal. No one had said anything to her about that earlier incident. Some clever people lived in this town…

It was a cruel thing to say, but she felt far more balanced now. None the less, she dearly hoped that this would have been the last disturbing this night. It seemed like nowhere people could just leave her be. Then the barmaid came to her table and took the empty plate. "Your bath is now ready, miss." Missy tipped the girl and got up to her room.

When she climbed into the bath tub her world seemed at ease again. The hot water relaxed her tensed back and warmed her thoroughly. She closed her eyes. This was really better than sleeping on a cold stone floor of a cave. Suddenly she heard a light creak, barely audible. Her eyes shot open and there stood Brynjolf with his back against the door.

When he hadn´t found in the bar downstairs, he figured that she must have taken herself a room. That was when he got the cruel idea, that for once he would be the one scaring her by silently appearing. Two could play this game…

But then he hadn´t expected to her sit in a bath tub, naked. He folded his hands in front of his chest to remain serious and forced himself to look her in the eye.

Missy had regained her composure. She was slightly impressed at his sneaking skills. "You now, it´s not a nice thing to sneak up on defenceless and more so naked woman."

Brynjolf snorted. "You are far from defenceless… even naked. You proofed it earlier…"

Missy looked at him annoyed. So this girl from earlier had really been associated with him and he was going to defend her from the big bad wolf… how very knightly.

"So, you´re here to avenge your pretty girl´s nose? Couldn´t she do that herself? Or is she crying on her mother´s lap? " she asked as sarcastically as she could.

Now it was Brynjolf´s part to look annoyed. Why did this lass had to be such a bitch?

"Oh, c´mon, Greta is all new. She couldn´t knew you. Why did you have to break her nose? That was unnecessary and exaggerated. You ruined a pretty face!" he exclaimed.

"Hmpf" Missy gave him a bitter smile "If it bothers you so much, take her from behind next time. That way you don´t have to face her." She proposed.

Brynjolf wasn´t sure if he should be angry at her statement, he more felt like smiling actually. Was this lass getting jealous? It very much sounded that way and it gave him a little bit of hope. Missy wasn´t catching what was going on and she hated it. Why was he smiling now?

"Lass, I am quite sure, I won´t take her from behind…" Brynjolf stated, still smiling, what annoyed Missy even more. "Oh yeah, sure, that way you can´t see those enormous tits…" and she made a gesture in front of her chest showing just how much she meant. That had Brynjolf laugh at last. Although Greta was… well equipped, this was exaggerated. "My, my… is it possible that you are jealous, lass?"

Missy shrugged. Really she was. The thought that Brynjolf had found himself this beautiful nord woman instead of her, made her angry and she wanted to beat someone up again, preferably the girl from earlier. But then she wasn´t going to tell him that. "Me, no… I like my tits." She looked down as if to measure the size. "You can get problems with your back having breasts that size. You know."

Damn, this man looked so hot when laughing…it wasn´t helping with being angry at him, especially when he admitted: "I like your bosom, too."

"You wanna join me?" she asked then, completely out of the blue. Brynjolf had to take a minute to understand her offer. She hadn´t said it seductively, like one would assume, more like a matter of fact. As if she handed him a bottle of mead. But then who was he to turn down an offer like this? While he opened the buckles of his armour, he felt her burning glance on his skin. It made him shudder for he remembered their previous meetings. But when he got in the tub, she didn´t not act after it. When he gave her a closer look, he saw that she had dark circles under her eyes, which she had closed again.

"You seem tired, lass" he stated the obvious. "Yeah, haven´t slept in a bed for nearly a week and I feel drained in general… it has been a tough time lately." Brynjolf wasn´t sure, if it was wise to ask further, but then he would at least test the waters. "Don´t you like your job?"

Missy shook her head. "I don´t want to say I like what I do. Sounds so manically. But it makes me who I am and I like that person. I can´t image to do something else. It´s just lately we had a lot of changes, some of us died and I became unwillingly leader. That´s one hell of a task…" For a moment there was silence, then Brynjolf said: "I can relate to that. I wouldn´t want your position either. Being the second in command is all good to me." He then saw her trying to stretch the muscles of her shoulders and neck. "C´mon, lass, turn around and let me do that" Most willingly she complied and he started to gently massage her.

Although it hurt a little, because of her tensed muscles, it was the most pleasing feeling she had in a while. Maybe even better than sex. Brynjolf smiled as she let out a contended moan. "Where did you learn this? It´s wonderful…" she declared and he joked: "Oh that is my profession secret. Can´t tell ya, you are no thief…" It was time to test how far he could go.

"If you like it, I could do it more often. You seem to me like you need a vacation of sorts. Why don´t you stay here for a few days? And I join you?" he said. He was done with massaging her and grabbed her around her stomach, so she would lean onto him.

His offer seemed so enticing to her. Really she liked the idea of maybe spending a day in bed with him, but then she wasn´t one to be lazy, not when others were stressed. She sighed frustrated and Brynjolf got the message. "C´mon lass, I believe Skyrim can cope without you for a few days…" She smiled at him. Why was he being so nice to her? She didn´t deserved it. "Bryn… I have at the moment an important assignment" He sighed and withdrew a bit from her. She turned around and caressed his face. "But when I am done, I need to get back here anyway. And then I would very much like to stay here a few days. With you. Promised." Brynjolf wasn´t fully convinced and he wouldn´t be until she stood in front of him again, but it was at least better that their last parting. He kissed her lightly. "We´ll see…"

Then Missy remembered why he had been here in the first place. "Oh, and tell your damsel in distress that I did not intended to deface her permanently, though I hope she learned her lesson. And tell her to get well soon."

She grabbed a towel then and got out of the tub. She gave Brynjolf another one. "As much as I want you to stay, I need a good night`s rest and I have a feeling like I won´t be sleeping much if you stay overnight." Brynjolf who had knotted the towel around his waist walked up to her smiling. "You think I can´t keep my hands to myself?" Missy smirked and embraced him "I do think so very much. But I don´t trust myself either…" she mumbled while kissing him. Why did this man had to be so incredibly sexy?

"If that is the case, I maybe should get clothes back on" he said, giving her a last kiss and then turning to his clothes. He wasn´t sure where he got that self-restraint from, but it was probably the wisest option. Missy watched him, she had only put on her tunica, in which she was going to sleep. When he was fully clothed, he turned to her again and didn´t know what to say. So he just took her in his arms and stroked her wet hair.

"Do we have an affair now? Or may I even consider you a friend?" she asked. He gave her a really final kiss and said: "Why don´t we call it friends with benefits?"


	6. fifth encounter part 1

AN: Next round! This one is the first Action/gory chapter and I am exited to know what you think =) When I wrote this I listened to Iron Maiden. I can´t tell if that shows, but I think I can advise "Fear of the Dark" as kinda the title song to this. Always when I hear this song now, I have a picture of Missy in my mind singing along, while slaying someone. Weird mind that I have...  
I discovered that by the way when I started this story I got a lot of feedback, but on the last couple of chapters it has been more or less just Bre´Lakor. I am not complaining, I am just wondering as I know that there are 7 People following. None the less big thanks to Bre`Lakor, who always reviews after an incredibly short time after updating, always makes me smile.

Fifth encounter

Missy sat in the high grass, watching a farm near Riften. It was raining again and it pissed her off, but then at least she didn´t needed to go at the other end of Skyrim. She could be back in Riften tomorrow morning. The prospect of getting back to this wickedly handsome thief made her bear it.

Her conversation with Maven Black-Briar had been as always: short, but significant and effective. Missy was very well able to deal with this woman. She kind of respected her. And her errands always meant a lot of coin. This time a family wanted to establish another small mead business. Maven couldn´t leave that be. She seemed to hate potential rivals… but then who doesn`t?

She could very well remember her explanation of the situation. "They are in my way and I want them gone. I heard there were bandit groups roaming these parts of Skyrim, would be unfortunate if they happened to come across this special farm, wouldn´t it?" Missy had smirked. She liked this woman`s way of thinking and it wouldn´t be her loss.

"So, I am going to make an example of them?! Raiding a whole farm. That´s going to be expansive…" Maven had nodded at that. "Yes, an example… you can take whatever you find in their house, makes it more convincing, that it had been bandits. And I´ll be waiting here with your reward. I have never put you off before, have I?" Missy had nodded her agreement and said: "Not once, it´s always a pleasure making business with you, Mrs Black-Briar."

And now she sat here. She questioned if she could demand an extra charge for bad weather. The described farm had been nearer than she thought and so she had to wait for the sunset. It would give her the advantage she needed and enough time to spy.

So far she had counted 4 men, who were potentially adversaries and 3 women. She wasn´t sure about them. You could never be with those nord woman. Some ran off screaming and others could beat the hell out of you. For the time being she had to count them as dangerous. Thankfully there were no children. She hated assignments that involved children. Really she was a cold blooded killer, but she still had some morals.

So, it was 7 against one. Not impossible, but it could get tricky. Missy scolded herself for leaving Yall behind, he would have been useful here. This gory style wasn´t really hers, she more liked it quick and clean… but then she couldn´t afford being choosy. She would need a distraction and kill as many as possible before they even saw her. They probably were only peasants anyway, with no real training and even less experience.

Slowly, always staying hidden, she circled the farm. There was a barn on the backside a bit offside. And behind it trees, as the perfect hideout. Missy smirked as a plan came together. She made her way to that barn.

When the sun had set low, she stepped out of her hideout and readied her crossbow. She stood beside the barn at the far end, looking towards the main house. She clenched her right hand as a fist and then reopened it. A flame flickered on it. It was something her mother had taught her back then, as a child. She wasn´t able to really hurt anyone with it, but still it had proved useful over the time. Such as now, when she sat the barn alight. It was filled with hay. It would be a blaze within a couple of minutes.

She turned to the main house and aimed. It took only a small moment and two men were running outside. Without weapons… very good. Missy waited till they had ran a few feet, so they couldn´t turn backwards so easily and even less hide. The first arrow fizzed in their direction, when she released it and bored itself deep within the chest of one man. He fell down and was dead at an instant.

The other stopped dead in shock. But he hadn´t much time to understand what was going on, as another arrow shot through the air and pierced his chest, exactly where his heart was.

Missy dropped the crossbow and the quiver and instead took out two one handed swords. If she had been a bit nervous before, she now was totally calm. Professionally assessing the situation, she made her way towards the house. When she was about on the half way a woman stormed out, with a giant war axe. It was obviously not hers, for it was far too big and heavy. When she attacked Missy, she could easily step aside and as the woman was so slowly and without covering, she could easily slice her throat.

Carefully Missy approached the house. 3 were dead, 4 more were coming. But now they were warned. When she opened the door another man tried to strike her with a dagger. Missy easily bucked it with one sword and plugged the other in his stomach. Dropping the dagger, he fell to floor and his blood pooled around him. Missy cowered down her back to the wall behind her. She retrieved the dagger and put it to her other weapons. It was a pretty nice piece.

The house was completely silent. Deliberately she sneaked further in. There were stairs which lead above, but she wanted to scan the ground floor first. To her right was something like a library or office. But it seemed empty. Then she saw a woman standing with her back to her. She was only equipped with a kitchen knife. Probably not a warrior. She seemed to be so very frightened she was shaking. Silently Missy got up behind her and with a swift movement broke her neck. The woman was already dead before she thudded on the wooden floor.

But Missy quickly turned around as she had heard a creak and it was not a second too late. A man, the last man, attacked her with a great sword. In the last moment she could step aside, so that his blow only cut thin air. But it didn´t took him long to try it another time. Missy could ward off his strikes, but he was too fast for her to start a counterattack. From the way this man was carrying himself she could see that he was a trained fighter indeed. She couldn´t spend too much time with him as there was still the chance that the last woman could attack her from behind. Taking her chances Missy made a huge step towards the man, when she had countered just another blow and kicked him at his knees. He hadn´t expected that and fell with a howl to the floor. That was his death sentence as Missy plunged her sword deep in his chest. Catching her breath, she watched the life draining out of his eyes.

Suddenly there was a loud crack. Missy turned around and could see from a window that the last woman was running towards the trees, she had used as a hideout earlier. For a moment she debated if she should follow the woman, but decided not to. Chasing her in the dark, in a forest was futile.

Carefully she searched through each room if she had missed another inhabitant, but she was all alone. The adrenaline was slowly decreasing and she took a deep breath. During her first tour around the house she had already found out, that there wasn´t much coin to get. Only upstairs she had found a chest with some septims. So to make it look more like a raid, she knocked over some tables and wardrobes and left through the door she came in.

Standing in front of the backside of the house, Missy turned around and set it alight also. Best way to cover your tracks….

But then a sudden pain pierced through her left shoulder. She grabbed at it and found an arrow sticking in it. When she turned around another one drove itself into her right thigh. Her assassin´s training kicked in as she saw the woman, who had fled earlier, with her crossbow. Regardless of her injuries and pain she started running towards her, while the woman tried to ready the crossbow another time, but it was useless. Missy reached her far too fast. And with a heavily blow she nearly beheaded the woman.

Angrily she withdraw her crossbow from the dead woman´s hands. Damn it! Now, what?!

Missy tried to take another step, but now felt the enormous pain coming from her thigh. She let herself drop on the ground. Very carefully she tried to get the first arrow out of her shoulder. Her eyes started to fill with tears, but thankfully she could get it out. She tried to move her arm. It hurt like hell, but it seemed nothing vitally was damaged. Then Missy inspected her thigh. The arrow was at least three fingers deep in it. The wound wasn´t bleeding a lot, though. She pulled only a bit at it, testing it. But then a big wave of blood pooled out and the pain made Missy see stars dancing in front of her eyes.

She sighed deeply and tore at her hair. She couldn´t get it out without losing consciousness and then she would probably bleed to her death. Thigh wounds could get nasty, she knew as much. She broke the arrow a bit over her skin, so it wouldn´t hinder her too much and tossed the rest away.

Then she took a look around. The house behind her was on fire fully now. The heat burned against her back. She needed to get away from here soon. The smoke was probably visible for miles. So she tried to get on her feet again, but that wasn´t easy as she couldn´t use her left arm and her right leg. She managed, but felt very much like an old woman. She tested her leg another time, but couldn´t put her weight on it. She whistled, calling for Shadowmere. The horse came at an instant and gave her an all over look as if saying: "What happened dude?!" She tried to pull herself up. Getting her leg on the other side proofed to be a nearly impossible task, but somehow she managed. The pain produced sweat droplets on her forehead.

"We need to get to Riften fast, my dear friend…" Missy said, hissing when the horse started moving. Really riding did not help at all with keeping the thigh still. Shadowmere found his way more or less alone and Missy was thankful at this intelligent horse. She didn´t noticed most of the way back. She was extremely concentrated on not passing out, that was the best she could do at the moment.

What was she going to do, when she arrived in Riften? She needed to see a healer soon. But she didn´t know any in this town, especially not one who wouldn´t ask any questions on who shot her. Her only possibility was to go to Brynjolf. But she didn´t liked the prospect. Being so badly injured was an intimate thing for their fragile and little established relationship. But then what choice did she have?

When Shadowmere stopped, she noticed that they already were at the gates and discovered in the same moment that she hadn´t thought about one thing, how was she going to get to Brynjolf? The horse must have noticed her reluctance at dismounting as he laid down to make it easier for her.

Very ungraciously Missy just let herself fall down from him, but still hissed in pain, when her feet touched the ground. "I owe you, my dear" She said to Shadowmere, who snickered at her and then turned to wander off. Luckily those false guards were not there tonight, so she could make her way into the city without being noticed.

Hopping was a pretty good strategy, Missy found out. With her unharmed arm she clung to everything she could grab. It was a slowly but constant progress. By the divines this was humiliating… Fortunately there was no one around who could see her or she would have needed to kill more people soon. The stairs down to the ratway were difficult, but she made it. Kind of proud on herself she entered them. Now she was only a few meters away from her destination. Please let him be there…

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the meantime Brynjolf sat in the Flagon being unhappy.

Earlier he had a conversation with Mercer and Greta. Mercer had given her the Goldenglow job. Not even Vex had gotten into that damn bee farm. He was convinced about Greta´s talent, but this was a suicide mission. But both Mercer and the lass had shrugged him off, saying she could do it. When she had packed her stuff, she had explained him that she like any good nord woman could handle herself in battle. He then had given her a lecture about not killing people if not totally necessary.

She had folded her arms and looked at him annoyed. "Really, it´s funny you tell me not to kill people. You tell that your butcherly girlfriend, too?" Oh, Delvin, why couldn´t this damn man keep his mouth shut…

"Listen, lass, I believe that is really my business and mine alone…" She had raised her hands in defence then, but still looked angry at him "I only did not expect it from you, Brynjolf, but then this… woman probably knows ways a respectable one doesn´t…" and then she brushed him off, making her way to Goldenglow estate. He had looked behind her in awe. What was going on with the girls at the moment, they were all starting to bitch around…

Now he sat here, nursing his mead and waited for both woman to come back. He had really become a pantywaist… He looked up. Tonilia had asked him something and he hadn´t been listening. He sat with her tonight and not with Delvin as a reaction to his treachery. The man in question although was acting as if nothing happened and as if he of all people here was the most innocent.

Brynjolf looked at her enquiring. "I said, you seem…" she didn´t get any further, because of a loud thud that came from the entrance. Both Tonilia and him, jumped from their seats, but could see nothing. But there was movement in the shadows and someone was groaning.

He unsheathed his dagger and slowly went to look what was going on. The others carefully followed him. When he was but some meters away, he could see that it was a person in a black armour laying on the ground. When Missy saw Brynjolf approaching her with a dagger, she raised her hands, saying: "Everything ok, it´s just me, the ground is kind of slippery"

Brynjolf stood now in front of her, looking down at her. She was a miserable sight. Her armour was covered in blood and he dearly hoped that it wasn´t hers. Missy didn´t like his concerned gaze, but then there was a readguard woman coming up beside him. "Hell, girl, what happened to you? And your shoulder?" Missy turned her head to sea that the wound on her shoulder had started bleeding again. It must have happened when she tried to catch herself while falling on the floor. "The shoulder is not really the problem. I got an arrow sticking in my thigh and I cannot get it out of there myself. Please can someone help me up again?" she asked.

Brynjolfs gaze wandered to her thigh, where he could see a piece of wood poking out. He then woke up from his first shock and kneeled down beside her to pick her up. "Tonilia, I`ll take her to my rooms, can you please get us a healer." The redguard woman then went away.

He took her in his arms bridal style, although Missy was complaining: "Really Brynjolf, this is not necessary. The other leg is fine…" but he would have none of it and Missy was far too exhausted to fight him off. He carried her away from the Flagon, through unknown tunnels. "How did you even get here? You look like hell…" He really was concerned about her. "Well, nice to see you again, too…" Missy tried to joke a bit, he was taking this too serious… it wasn´t that bad, was it?

He wasn´t in the mood for joking. They stopped in front of a larger metal door. "Lass, I need to set you down, in order to open the door…" "Sure" Missy just said and tried to stand on her left leg. She needed to lean on the wall, as the sudden upright position made her feel dizzy. As Brynjolf had opened the door he helped her inside and made her lay down on his bed.

For the first time since hours Missy relaxed. She now was safe and Brynjolf would take care of her. She closed her eyes and a welcoming darkness surrounded her.

Brynjolf on the other hand wasn´t relaxed at all, he rushed to her, when he saw her passing out. Gods what was this lass doing to him? He tucked off her hood first. She was still breathing, what was a good thing. He didn´t know how long it had taken her to get back to him, but with those wounds it must have been exhausting. How could she have walked with an arrow in her thigh?

He inspected her body of other wounds and carefully started to open her armour. It wasn´t easy to undress her with her limb body and he didn´t want to cause her any further pain. So when he got her out of the upper part, he just ripped her tunica apart. It was ruined anyway by blood from her shoulder. Although he was worried sick about her, he had a hard time not admiring her breasts that were tightly tugged into a breast band. Then he saw the necklace she wore. It was the one he had stolen and given back. A small smile appeared on his face. The red thong really looked wonderful on her dark skin, just as he had expected.

When he started to open her breeches, there was a knock on his door and Tonilia and the healer got in. Brynjolf quickly informed him, what had happened. "She passed out only minutes ago, when she laid down. Tried to get those clothes off to examine the wounds. The bleeding on the shoulder is slowly decreasing, but the thigh looks deep…" The healer was used to not asking any questions. A girl with arrow wounds was nothing new for him. He gave her quick overall look and said: "Well, it´s probably the best for her to be unconscious, when we take out the arrow in her thigh. We need lots of blankets this will get gory…"

Brynjolf and Tonilia shoved several blankets underneath her, while the healer examined Missy´s shoulder. "This one´s not bad. No major harm done. I´ll just dress it, and it will heal quickly."

Then he turned down to her thigh and slid the breeches open with a knife. "Okay, I need you two to hold her. One the upper body and one her legs. Don´t want the girl to kick out when I´m dragging on the arrow shaft. Did she have a belt? Our do you have one?" he asked in Brynjolf´s direction, who looked enquiring at the man, but retrieved one.

"I will try to arrest her blood circulation in that leg with it", the healer explained while closing it tightly around Missy`s thigh a bit over the wound. "Hopefully that will help to lessen the bleeding a bit. She did well at not taking it out herself. She would have bled to death. Everybody ready?" He looked at Tonilia, who laid her whole weight on Missy`s ankles to hold them. She nodded. The he turned to Brynjolf, who made miserable face, but he had a firm grip on her shoulder and upper arm. He also nodded, though less convinced.

For pulling it out the healer had to rock the shaft back and forth, so the gap got big enough. Although unconscious, the pain made Missy cry in agony. Seeing the blood flowing out of the wound and hearing her cries made Brynjolf sick. He turned his head around so he didn´t have to see it, but still seemed to feel the pain himself.

The healer then exclaimed victorious:" Tada… here we go!" and held the rest of the arrow up. He then made her a tight bandage around it and loosened the belt. "That is as much as I can do for her in the moment. I can´t give her stitches. The wound is too likely to infect. The bleeding needs to stop by itself in the next time or she will get problems with the blood loss. But she seems strong and healthy. I guess, she´ll make it. When she wakes up, try to infuse her a health potion. That would help. But beware she may gets sick… I`ll come around tomorrow again. Good night." He then went away.

Missy now lay completely relaxed again on the bed. She looked as if she was just sleeping. Only the blood soaked blankets around her indicated what had happened. Tonilia turned to Brynjolf to see how he was doing. She had seen his face paling during the process. He now watched the girl´s steady breathing with a faraway look. He must be pretty shaken. Lightly Tonilia touched his shoulder and he snapped back into this world. "Is that the assassin girl that gave you a hard time?" she asked with caution, smiling at him. Brynjolf returned her smile, however a bit more sad. "Delvin just can´t keep his mouth shut, can he?"

Tonilia turned again to the woman on the bed. Her suspicion confirmed. "Let´s clean this mess and wash her a bit. I´ll go get us some water." Brynjolf nodded at her, when she was out, he sat down on the edge of the bed. He had never seen her face so calm. It made her far younger and he felt himself wonder how long she had already been living this life… How many times had she been injured like this? He realized that he knew nearly nothing about her. Even her name seemed to be an alias.

He brushed a strand of sweaty hair out of her face. "You really give me a hard time, lass" he said to her. They would have plenty of time to talk, when she woke up. She owed him a big deal.


	7. fifth encounter part 2

AN: So, here is the next part of the fifth encounter, eventually there is going to be also a third part, because Missy is just spending a lot of time in Riften.  
I would like to say a big thanks to everyone who gave me a review so far, I feel really flattered that you seem to enjoy my story so much. It always makes my day, when I get an E-Mail saying "You got a review". If you have any suggentions, ideas or critic feel free to write me!  
This chapter or part is mostly consisting of dialog, as Missy is not in the condition to do anything else...but that makes us explore their relationship a bit more and in the end it´s getting a bit dark. I hope you like it =)  
By the way this evil evil scumbag, that calls himself my boyfriend suggested that I could just let Missy die, that would certainly be an unexpected ending for the story. I hope you agree with me that this wasn´t really an option...  
As I got good Feedback at giving away my musical influences. I thought, I might be doing this more often. This time I had an "earworm" (can you say that in english? It´s the direct translation of the german "Ohrwurm"), anyway, I couldn´t get "Snuff" by Slipknot out of my mind. Even if you don´t like metal music, you should give this song a go. It´s wonderful...

Fifth encounter part 2

Missy felt like she was swimming in a warm lake, or no, more like flying… through clouds. Everything was fluffy and smooth. She was totally at ease… it seemed nothing could disturb her peace. But suddenly she felt like falling down into a giant black hole. She tried to stop it, tried to hold onto this wonderful peaceful feeling, but couldn´t… then she felt like hitting the floor hard.

Pain flooded through her and centred on her thigh. She felt that she was laying on a bed. Her legs were bare, but she was wearing some kind of a tunica and had a blanket over her. Then she remembered she had gone to Brynjolf injured. Reluctantly, very reluctantly she opened her eyes.

The world spun around her. Groaning she reclosed her eyes, why did she have to wake up…?  
Brynjolf who sat on a chair beside the bed, startled at her noises. He had drifted off in a light slumber. "Hey, lass, good morning…" he smiled at her. Missy turned her head in the direction she assumed his voice coming from and tried to open her eyes another time. "I…" she didn´t get further as she felt how dry and raw her throat felt. "Wwwwaterrrr… please"

Brynjolf retrieved a cup from a nearby table. He shoved one arm under her head to prop it up a bit, with his other hand he brought the cup to her lips. Missy tried to grab the cup, but her hands were shaking and she had little to no power in them. So she had to let him hold it. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he had let her down again. "Like a mammoth had walked over me…"

She tried to prop herself on her elbows, but fell back down again at an instant. "Easy lass, you lost a lot of blood, when we pulled that arrow out of you." For the first time she gave him a closer look. The world had already somewhat settled down, though she felt she shouldn´t make fast movements. He sat beside the bed. His arms rested on his knees and he watched her calmly. He looked very exhausted and tired… She reached at him and gently tugged a strand of hair behind his ear. "You look like it was you who rode an hour with an arrow in your thigh and then hopped through Riften…" she joked.

He tucked her hand in his, when she withdrew it and felt how cold it was. "Lass, I need to give you a health potion. You´ll be feeling much better then." He sat on the edge of the bed, gently took her in his arms, so she could sit a bit upright and helped her drink again. Though Missy was too powerless, to do that herself, she found it a bit exaggerated. She wasn´t a child… But then she liked him being near her. He was warm and she was freezing again. As she was done drinking, she snuggled closer to him before he could go away. "Feeling cuddly, lass?" he laughed.

"Don´t flatter yourself, I´m just unbelievable cold and you nord guys radiate a heat that is unnaturally." She snorted, but didn´t let him get an inch away from her. Concerned because it really wasn´t so cold in this room, he felt her forehead and cheeks. Thankfully she really was cold and obviously not catching a fever. "Let me take off my armour and then we can cuddle as long as you want." He joked and got up, as Missy released him reluctantly from her grip. Her eyes watched him interested and maybe a bit heated. She was by far not in the condition to have sex right now, but still appreciated the view she got. Although he was a bit overcautious, treating her like glass, she liked not being alone at the moment.

She slipped further to the other side of the bed, making him as much space as possible. As he was only cladded in a shirt and underclothes he laid down beside her, tugging her as near as possible, so she laid half on top of him. She brought her hands, which felt really cold in between them, sliding them under his shirt, to warm them further. Brynjolf had to hiss at the sensation of her cold hands on his warm chest. "By the Divines, lass, you´re a walking corpse… only by your temperature of course" he joked.

It really felt good having her so close to him. She was asleep again at an instant and lightly snored, because her nose was buried in the crook of his neck. He gave her a small kiss on the forehead and then closed his eyes too. The night had been long and exhausting.

When he woke up again first thing he felt was that she had put her leg on his and that her knee was rubbing against his groin. And he was far too sensible currently to ignore it. Carefully without waking her he tried to bring a bit space in between them, but she wouldn´t let him. He only achieved that she wriggled herself again closer to him, rubbing her breasts against his chest. Brynjolf groaned, she must be kidding him… Really he was no one to take advantage of a helpless, injured woman, but he wasn´t a saint either… He should better occupy himself with something else. There would be no sleep for him here anyway. Deliberately he crawled out of bed and put on his clothes again. It was by far time to go and see how his fellow thieves were doing, must have been midday by now. Maybe Greta was back? Hopefully in one piece… He gave Missy a last little kiss on her forehead and went to go into the Flagon.

The mood was obviously good, everybody seemed to enjoy their half day off, as Brynjolf entered the tavern. He got himself something to eat and made a mental note, to later take something with him for Missy. The others barely noticed him. Only when he sat across Delvin, the man acknowledged him. "Hey, Brynjolf, good to see you! How is your injured damsel doing?" The man in question laughed "She´ll live, but beware that you never call her that when she´s around. She´ll kill you. Has something happened while I was away?" Delvin looked at him astonished.

"If something has happened? Your little protégé has done the job. Burned the beehives and got a parchment. I didn´t want to believe it, but you have quite an aim when it comes to women."

That took a load off Brynjolf´s mind. "And how is she? Do we have another injured damsel?"

"No, a few scratches, nothing serious. She already talked with Mercer and later has an appointment with Maven. Currently she is asleep." Oh, now Brynjolf felt a pang of guilt. He should have been the first to congratulate her to her success, but Delvin wasn´t finished yet.

"Speaking of Maven, that old witch has more luck than anyone else. While we raided Goldenglow, only some miles further another bee farm burned, and in fact one that was in compete with Maven. Guards say that it must have been a bandit group. Left quite a mess. Everyone is dead, the house is raided and burned." Brynjolf had a feeling somewhere deep in his gut, that this was not at all coincidence. He would have to talk with Missy later…

He got up from his seat and said:" Well, interesting enough, I´ll go have a talk with Mercer."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

In the meantime, Missy stirred in her sleep. Something had changed, she wasn´t sure what, but she didn´t liked it… irritated her hand appeared from under the blanket, and searched the place beside her. It was empty. She opened her eyes. Nope there was no Brynjolf. She looked around the room. Still no Brynjolf. He must have gone at some point. She tried to sit up and felt that she already had more power than earlier. What time was it? What day was it anyway? For the first time she gave the room around her a closer look. First thing she noticed, it had no windows. The light came from some candles burning in the right corner. There was a table and two chairs. In the left corner there was a desk loaded with books and parchments. In between some cupboards, chests and other furniture. Everything was dusted and messy, with no decorations. Brynjolf seemed to use this more as a store for his stuff.

There was no getting back asleep now. Missy was awake. She looked down at herself. She was naked but for her underclothes and a seemingly giant shirt far too big for her. It must be Brynjolf`s she figured. Her right thigh was nearly totally covered in a bandage. She could see that there was dried blood beneath it. She tried to move it. She could, but it hurt. Next she tested her shoulder, which was far better she could even move her arm good again, if she didn´t overdid it. Next thing would be to stand up, but she wasn´t sure if that was such a good idea. She was still a bit dizzy.

Carefully she lowered her legs out of the bed, so that her feet could touch the ground. The floor was cold. Couldn´t get Brynjolf a carpet? With all concentration she could muster, she tried pulling herself up.

"Lass, what are you doing?" Surprised she fell back on the bed. "Stop that! You will reopen the wound…" Angrily Missy looked up only to see Brynjolf with an equally sour look. Behind him stood an older man, smiling. He know came up to her

"Such a strong girl. It hasn´t even been a day and she already tries to get up again. It´s good to see that you seem to fare well." Missy looked at the man puzzled. "Oh, I´m sorry miss, you can´t know me, I´m Tjure, I was the one who pulled that arrow out of you." Ah, so he was Brynjolf´s healer. Missy looked at him up and down. Yeah, he looked like a healer.

"Here, I still have the piece. Do you want it back?" and he rummaged in his bag and then held the top of an arrow to her. "Yeah, why not… thank you" Missy smiled and took it from him. "May I now change your wound dressing, miss?" He asked putting his bag down. Missy laid down on the bed fully again and said: "Sure"

While Tjure was occupied with her bandages he engaged her in a light chatter. It seemed he was working regularly for the Guild. Brynjolf stood in the door, not saying anything. What was she thinking at getting up all alone? When the wound had started bleeding again, she could have been dead before he would have been back… reckless girl…

The wounds were healing without problems. Tjure left them a salve, so it wouldn´t infect and then left again. Missy turned around to see Brynjolf still stand in the doorway. She sat up again and then saw that he had food with him. "Uhh, is that for me?" she asked sweetly. Brynjolf snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the bowl in his hands. "Yeah, thought you could be hungry…" And handed it her. "Hungry? I am starving…" and as if on command her stomach growled. Brynjolf chuckled and got himself a chair beside the bed, while she seemed to inhale the contents of the bowl.

"Easy lass, don´t forget to chew once in a while…" he originally wanted to stay mad at her, but it was hard. With her mouth full, she answered: "It´s just beans and bacon… there is nothing to chew…" Then she swallowed the rest. "I… I can´t cope good with being hungry. Used to be it my whole childhood…" Brynjolf noted that this was the first personal thing she ever revealed.

"Thank you" she handed him the bowl back and an awkward silence spread, until Brynjolf tried: "Lass, please, don´t try to get up alone. I can help you if you need to, but I don´t want you reopen your wounds…" Missy felt something warm flooding through her chest at his concerns, but really they were unneeded. "Brynjolf, I´m a grown woman and this is not my first injury… I can assess myself at what I can do and what not…" He folded his arms and face showed that he was not amused. "Well, obviously you can´t or you wouldn´t have ended up bleeding on my doorstep…" That was harsh, but it was out before he could stop himself.

Missy now looked at him angry. "Are you questioning my abilities?! I have been doing this for a long time, and by Sithis I know to handle myself. I pulled off the greatest assignment in the history of the brotherhood!" Now it was her to fold her arms. "This profession is just dangerous, you cannot always do something about it and you cannot predict every possibility. You of all people should know that!" she noticed that she was getting furious once again.

The last sentence struck Brynjolf deep. "…hmpf… cannot predict everything? You attacked a whole farm all on you own… that´s nearly suicidal…"

Now she got angry. "You believe to know more about murder than me, thief?" she pronounced the last word as if it was an insult. "I´m not just some pretty lass…" she muttered. She had the giant urge to get up and out of this freaking room, away from him… The anger made her really reckless, but also stronger. With a swift movement she stood up. The pain in her leg told her that this hadn´t been a good idea, but she wouldn´t give Brynjolf the satisfaction of backing down. She took two steps towards the door, but suddenly the world went pitch black.

Brynjolf had stayed on his seat as she had tried to get up and away from him. She should try to get along without his help… but when he saw her going limb, every anger was vanished from his thoughts. In the last moment before crashing on the floor he could catch her. By all gods… why had he provoked her? He had achieved the exact opposite of what he wanted. Gently he laid her back on the bed, hoping that it had caused no major damage.

Groaning Missy woke up. The world was spinning viciously again. She cupped her eyes with one hand. Wonderful, now she had proven Brynjolf´s point.

"Lass, are you ok?" his gentle, concerned voice asked her from beside. She turned her head in the other direction, so she didn´t had to face him. Accepting defeat had never been one of her qualities.

Watching her turn away from him, made Brynjolf´s heart clench. Why did he had to be such an ass? She wasn´t under his command, he couldn´t deal with her that way. "Lass…" he leaned over her and touched her shoulder. "I must apologise. I don´t know what happened to me. I don´t question your abilities. You just scared the hell out of me… again, when you laid there all this blood covering you… and then earlier when I heard the gossips about the farm being raided. They said it was a massacre… Really, lass, I mean no offense, but it´s not a nice thing to picture…" He was nestling with his hands and didn´t know how to go on further, but instead Missy turned around again and looked at him. Were that tears in her eyes? She quickly blinked a couple of times to get them away. "No offense taken…" she said. "Really, seems you were right about me standing up… and I know that it´s not a pretty picture… but this is who I am, Brynjolf. I am a cold blooded killer." She gently laid a hand on his cheek, making him looking her in the eyes.

He bent down and kissed her desperately. It was hard to comprehend that this petite woman underneath him had caused this bloodbath. Slowly he withdrew and she searched his eyes again. "Brynjolf, can you cope with that? With me as the leader of the dark brotherhood?" she ask with a serious expression. He sat back on his chair, scratching his head. "I guess I have to, I don´t like the thought though… it´s difficult to accept a view of the world and morals that is totally contradictive to mine…" Missy smiled at him and sat upright again, her back leaning against the wall.

"Then let me explain how I see it." She took a deep breath and started. "I won´t deny that I´m a bad person. I kill people for money. That´s a bad thing and should be punished. There is no arguing about that fact. Call it hypocrite, but I still have some morals. I would never kill children and I´m not making people suffer unnecessarily. I don´t enjoy the act of killing itself, maybe the thrill that comes with it…" Brynjolf smiled, he could relate to that.

"And here´s the thing: I´ve been doing this for a long time now and I´ve seen a lot. I don´t think I´m a worse person that the one that employees me and those who seek our services are evenly spread throughout all of Skyrim. Every province, every gender, every social status from beggar to Jarl and every age. My youngest customer was a boy at the age of 12." Brynjolf raised an eyebrow at that. "What I want to say is, that if they are just as guilty of murder as I am, then no one is innocent. And in fact many times I think my reason to do this, money, is better than theirs and they even pay me. Some people save money for years to then assign us. I always think, couldn´t you used that money better… for the education of you children or your retirement?! But then it´s not my position to judge them. Many of them have the urge to tell me why, I don´t really care about that, but it´s seems a general urge. And in 99% it´s vengefulness. The urge to seek revenge is the power that alone creates my business. Just like yours is greed…" Brynjolf took himself a moment to process the said.

"What you basically saying is, lass, that in the end the others are even worse than you because without them you wouldn´t be doing this and the others that is about everybody." Missy shrugged at that "More or less…"

He got up from his chair. "I think I can live with that." He decided. "I need to get back to the Flagon. I have still stuff to manage. I hope I´m back in one or two hours. Should I bring you something?" Missy now really smiled at him "Oh please, something sweet, pastry maybe" she looked excited like a child. "I´ll see what I can do."

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When Brynjolf entered the Flagon first thing he saw was that everybody seemed to be celebrating again. And he soon found out why. Greta was back from her talk with Maven and paid a round of mead. Really that girl was sweet and now everybody wanted to be friends with her. Those thieves were so opportunistic. Even though it was only early afternoon they all seemed a bit drunk, including his dear lass, Greta. When she saw him, her smile grew wide and she beckoned him over to her. Smiling he sat down at the bar beside her. "You throw a party and don´t invite me? I´m hurt, lass…" he said, mocking her. "I didn´t knew… I was…." She was struggling for words and watched her hands very closely. It was a very cute sight. Eventually she looked up at him again. "I feel ridiculous. I… must apologise. There was no need to be mad at you. You have been nothing but nice to me."

Brynjolf leaned on the counter, he had already forgotten their little confrontation. "Lass, you are sweet. I have never taken any offence in what you said. You are not used to people like us. Your way of thinking is still quite black and white. You´ll find out that it not that easy…" She considered his words for a moment and didn´t seemed convinced. "Hmpf, I still don´t like the idea, but I can live with it, as it is your decision, not mine. How is she faring anyway? Heard she was injured…"

Brynjolf could tell that Greta wasn´t really interested in Missy, but just wanted to be polite, so he just answered: "She´ll live." It had been a long time since anyone in here had tried to be polite. Maybe that was a nice change, if everybody would remember their manners up to a certain degree.

Suddenly Vex jumped from her seat and yelled at Delvin. Yeah, it would definitely be good to practise some manners. Greta looked at the two of them, too. "What´s going on with them?" she asked. "Oh, that´s a long story. They have been dancing around each other for a long time." Brynjolf answered amused. Now, Vex was throwing her cup at Delvin, probably because she was out of insults. "You mean they are in love?" Greta asked, like a small girl. It made Brynjolf laugh. "Well, something like that…" The girl beside him seemed so innocent sometimes, especially in this matters. He felt a bit reluctant to explain her the details of their on/off relationship, as it surely wasn´t innocent, and so he was grateful for her not questioning any further.

"I´ll be going to Witherun tomorrow. Maven sends me there." She suddenly said. Brynjolf looked at her, he wasn´t sure of the subtext of what she said. "Well, Maven´s errands always mean good coin." That wasn´t her point, it seemed. "Yeah, when I brought home money earlier, Grandma was so glad. Said I was such a good girl, but I felt miserable since it isn´t honest money… and I think she got suspicious, but she didn´t asked further. I think she didn´t want to know…"

Brynjolf didn´t know want to say to her for a moment. "So, you still got your morals, lass. I don´t think I can help with this… it´s one of the few things in this world I´m not good at." He joked.

She smiled at that and gave him a big hug. "Thank you anyway. Talking to you always helps me…" He tousled her hair and said smiling: "You´re welcome, lass. Take care in Witherun" She now smiled too and went away.

Turning around to Vekel, Brynjolf asked him: "Do you have Sweet Rolls or something?"

About 20 minutes later he was walking back to his room. He didn´t used it very frequently, but now he was thankful that he had it. Having Missy under the eyes of everyone in the guild would have been difficult. He didn´t think Mercer would have taken it so good and Missy surely would have been even less uneasy with the whole situation.

When he entered his room, the first thing he saw was that there was no one in the bed. He sighed and was about to get angry again. Then Missy who sat in front of his desk, raised her hands in defence. "Before you are peeved at me again… I just couldn´t lay in bed anymore. My back hurts at I´m done with sleeping. I was very careful when I stood up and I never put weight on the bad leg, okay?" She had stood up somewhat circuitous and now looked at him a bit shyly. Brynjolf suddenly felt it very hard be mad with her. She stood there only clad in his shirt, which was far too big, so her shoulder peeked out at one side. Her legs were bare from her mid-thigh and the plunging neckline gave him a good view of the swell of her breasts. It take him only a few large steps to take her in his arms and kiss her.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

About 20 minutes later Missy sat on the desk naked. Everything that had been previously on that desk, now laid messily on the floor. Her legs were holding Brynjolf, who was equally naked, tightly against her and his head rested on her shoulder. He was panting heavily.

She lightly caressed his head. Combing through his red hair with her fingers. She could feel him smiling against her neck and a contented moan escaped him. "Lass, one day you will kill me with this." He kissed and nibbled on her neck, reluctant to let go of her and this moment. But Missy turned his head to her and said smiling: "I couldn´t think of a better way to die."

Brynjolf gave her a passionate kiss and mumbled: "Me neither." Then very unwillingly, he separated himself from her and went to retrieve his clothes. Missy let herself slip from the desk and put on the shirt again. "Where is my armour by the way? I need something proper to dress at some point."

He turned around and looked at her mockingly. "Nay, you don´t…" She gave him an unimpressed look. "Pervert…"

Now he was really laughing. "Have you expected anything less from me, lass?" She considered his words for a moment and then shook her head. "No, not really…" He then helped her to hop to his table and sit down. He had already placed the sweet rolls and two bottles of mead there, what made her eyes grow wide with pleasure. "Your armour was totally ruined. We had to slice it up to get you out of it and your tunica beneath was also covered in blood. But your weapons lay there at the far end of the bed."

She cursed herself for forgetting her saddle bags on Shadowmere. She had a few clothes to change there and more important her money. Taking a bite from her sweet roll, she said: "I need to get outside the city and find my horse any time soon."

Brynjolf eyes dropped. He had hoped she would stay awhile at least until her injuries were mostly healed. He cleared his throat and asked carefully: "Do you really think it would be wise to ride now? I mean all on your own through Skyrim when you can barely walk…?"

Missy now saw the hurt in his eyes and understood that he thought, she was on her way to go again. She quickly tried to ease the situation. "Oh, no, I wasn´t thinking of going home… I told you I would stay for a bit. And now it seems I´m forced to do so…" she smiled at him. "I only wanted to retrieve my stuff, it´s still on the horseback." He visibly relaxed at that. He did not want another confrontation today. "I could get them for you. What does your horse look like?"

Missy chuckled at that thought. "That would be a bad idea. He would stamp you down till you die probably. He is really not friendly to strangers." Brynjolf`s eyes widened at that. "That must be one hell of a horse…" and Missy chuckled again. "Yeah, that about fits it."

She took another sweet roll and he poured himself some mead. "Then I´ll get you a dress tomorrow or should I asked Tonillia if she has a spare guild armour."

She didn´t liked the idea of walking around in a Thieves guild armour, but didn´t know who to tell him without being offensive. "A dress would be fine… I think it wouldn´t be such a bad idea to dress in civil for a while…" They shared the bottles of mead and had a light uncomplicated conversation that evening. Neither one wanted to disturb this peace that was settling between them.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The next day Brynjolf got up early and went into the Flagon to find Tonilia. She was seated at her usual place and greeted him with a smile. "How is your girl doing?" He sat down beside her and answered: "Oh, good, thanks again for your help… She is already starting to feel a bit caged in that room and so I said I would go and find her something to wear. For some reason she didn´t want to run around in my tunic."

She smiled at him catching were this conversation was going. She got up and said:" I´ll quickly check my stuff, but I am sure I can find something." In the meantime he talked a bit with Vekel who gave him some bread and cheese for breakfast. It seems there had been a lot of celebrating yesterday and now most guild mates were all still in their beds or elsewhere nursing their hangover. Those drunkards…

As Tonilia came back, she held a grey dress with a brown corsage. "Here, it isn´t something special, but I guess it will fit her." He took the dress and asked. "What do you get for that?"

But she only waved aside. "She can keep it. Wouldn´t get anything for it and it doesn´t fit me anyway. I think also it´s not a bad idea that the brotherhood owns us something. Could be useful…" Brynjolf didn´t complained about that. He had already spend a good amount of his money on the healer and was a bit penniless at the moment.

When he had made his way back to his room Missy sat at his desk again. This time writing something. "I got you a dress and breakfast. What are you writing?" She turned around and got up to inspect the dress. "I´m just writing a letter to my fellow assassins. To let them know that I´m alive, but that it could take some time till I get back. Can I tell them to send letters to you, if they need to contact me?" She asked and tried to get out of his shirt. He had sat down on the table and was debating if they could delay their departure for the surface a little while. He felt as if he had an important thing to do, as he saw her there standing more or less naked. When he felt her scrutinizing gaze on her, he noticed that he hadn´t answered yet. He coughed then and tried to look elsewhere, but not on her naked form. "Uhm, sure…"

Her eyes narrowed. "Don´t look at me like that. We won´t be having sex now, I need to get out of this room." She was struggling with putting the dress on. Though she could move her arm normally without pain, she still couldn´t lift it over her head and that made her being caught within the dress.

Brynjolf chuckled at the sight but then had mercy on her and went to her aid. "Really, lass, you seem to have a bad opinion of me. Why would I think such a thing?"

When he dragged the dress down, so her head popped out, she gave him a sour look. But he wasn´t impressed and gave her a small kiss. "C´mon, lass, let´s eat something and then we are going to find your horse…"

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Since Missy had refused to be carried through Riften, she had put an arm around Brynjolf´s waist for stabilisation and now was hopping again. Still even with his help they were making a slow progress. But Brynjolf didn´t cared so much, there were far worse things in the world than walking arm in arm with a beautiful woman. It was still quite early and the city was just starting to buzz with life again.

There still was a morning mist, but that meant it would become a nice day. Especially Missy enjoyed the fresh air and the sun, though it was still a bit dull. She really wasn´t one to stay in bed for a long time. It made her feel like a caged animal and it usually didn´t help with the temper. Very interested she watched the people around her, performing their usual work. It was very uncommon for her, not to spy on someone in particular, but to just watch.

They walked or hopped the whole way to the gates in silence, but not an awkward one, it was comforting. Both seemed to daydream and if she didn´t knew better, Missy would have said, that they looked like a couple being freshly fallen in love.

They stopped just outside the stables and peered inside. "So, which one is yours?" but Missy had started to walk off a bit on her own. "No, we need to get a bit further outside. Here are too many people. I don´t keep him in a stable. He´s far too proud for that and he can take care of himself."

When they had ventured a bit more into the woods, she whistled. And it took Brynjolf all of his self-control to close his mouth again, when only a minute later a giant deep black steed appeared from the trees. The Horse seemed to watch Brynjolf sceptical and snarled at him.

But Missy was having none of that. "Oh Shadowmere, don´t be such a bitch, c´mon here. Brynjolf is not one of us, but he´s a friend." The horse still eyed him warily, but slowly came nearer. It seemed kind of happy to see her and nudged her hair friendly. Missy giggled a bit and patted his head. "Have you missed me, my dear? Did you worry about me?" she asked and want kind of shocked Brynjolf the horse nodded his head in agreement. "Oh, you didn´t had to, my good boy, dear Brynjolf here attended to me…"

While she stroked the mane, the horse turned to Brynjolf now eying him less menacing. "Think none of it…" he stuttered, not comfortable at all with taking to a horse, which then just snickered.

"Shadowmere, I need to stay in Riften some time to let my leg heal proper. I want you go back to the sanctuary and deliver this message." Missy took the letter she had written earlier and placed it in one saddle bag, while she plugged her stuff in the other. The horse nodded again and went his way.

Brynjolf still stood looking behind him in an awe. "Really, lass that is one hell of a horse…"

They turned around and started to go back to the city, when he asked: "Shall I bring you back down or where do you want to stay? I need to spend some time at my market stand." Missy shook her head. "I need some fresh air. I will spend some time in the city. I wanted to go to some merchants anyway and I won´t waste the opportunity to see you in action." She smiled up at him.

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Brynjolf had more or less watched Missy the whole day. He had done his best to sell his goods, but then still kept an eye on her. Though he felt a bit ridiculous doing so. He knew very well that she was able to take care of herself, even when she was injured, probably better than he was himself. Still he had the urge to make sure she was safe.

She had talked with nearly every merchant in Riften. She had critically inspected Balimund´s weapons and looked over Madesi`s jewellery. The Lizard had smirked at her for he surely had recognized the necklace she wore, but hadn´t said anything and she hadn´t asked. Then she had disappeared from his view. Later he again caught a glimpse on her when she went for the piers. And that´s where he found her, when he had closed his stand in the afternoon.

She sat at the end of a pier. Her feet dangling in the air just above the water and with a faraway look she watched the lake in front of her. The sun that was slowly setting, illuminated her in a way that made her look like a ghost. Brynjolf fought hard with himself not to disturb the peace of that moment. But it seemed she had heard something for she turned around and looked at him. For a brief moment he saw loneliness in her eyes that was heart-breaking. But within a blink it was gone and she smiled lightly at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked getting down to sit beside her. She looked again on the water. "Just… thinking… didn´t had much time to think about what happened lately and trying… well, seeking a peace of mind…" Brynjolf suddenly had the irresistible urge to comfort her, though she didn´t really seemed sad. So he put an arm around her shoulders and made her lean onto him.

They sat a moment like this in silence, but then there was a nagging question in Brynjolf´s mind and it was out before he could stop himself. "Lass, may I ask if Missy is an alias?"

She looked at him puzzled for this question came totally out of the blue. "Is it really so unlikely that this is the name given to me by my mother?" she asked, now obviously joking with him.

"Well, actually it kind of suits you. You maybe have a habit of bitching around when you are bad tempered." He stated. She separated herself from him and acted as if she pouted, but then dropped it and smiled. "Can´t deny that… but I guess that is why I got that name after all. It was given to me by mentor when he recruited me. So it is kind of an alias, but has become my name within these years. You won´t find any one in Skyrim calling me by the name given to me at my birth."

Brynjolf considered her words for a moment. It was obvious that she wasn´t going to tell him the real name and pushing her wouldn´t help, so he thought about an easier question. "So, err, how old you´ve been back then, I mean when you got recruited?" She watched him for a moment and then her feet dangling above the water surface. "You want my story, right? How I became who I am"

He just couldn´t fool this woman. Either his subtle ways didn´t work with her or he just was a fool around her. Both options were very likely. "Lass, I didn´t meant to push you. I just… I´ve been knowing you for a while now and we shared some… intimate moments, but still I know nothing about you. Not even your real given name…" But she didn´t back away, just sat there watching the water and said:" It´s ok. I normally wouldn´t do that, but I feel like I owe you, so I will tell you, but only in exchange to yours…" She looked at him inquiring. Now he knew why she was so reluctant. He felt the same. Sharing the story of your life is an intimate thing. It makes you vulnerable. More human like. Most of his fellow guild mates didn´t knew how he ended up here and he was sure she had the same problem. But then it was only the past, what harm could that do?

He extended his hand to her. "We have a deal, but you start." She smiled and shook his hand. Then she looked out to the far end of the lake again.

"Against common belief I am not from Morrowind. My parents came from there though, but I was born after they had fled here. So I have never seen anything but Skyrim and I call it home.

We lived in Windhelm. In the Grey Quarters." She looked at him, silently asking if he knew what that meant. He nodded, he had seen this slum first hand a couple of years ago.

"My father did his best to provide us with occasional jobs, but it was hard. From what they told, I can tell, that they came from rich families, but lost everything on the flight. Especially my mother couldn´t cope with the loss of her social status. Father seemed to bear it with dignity, as best as he could. Me and my younger sister, we never really complained. It was the only life we ever knew and we were fine with the way it was. Though will never forget the feeling of starving and the severe cold in the winters. My mother taught me how to use Magicka to create a flame that would keep us warm. She was good with these things…" Missy smiled a bit, as she remembered how she burned herself the first times. Then her expression grew grim.

"But then one day everything fell apart. I was 14 and my sister was 12. It was early in the morning, we still lay in bed and father was preparing for work, when a group of guards knocked down our door. They surrounded my father and my mother quickly made us hide beneath the bed. The guards accused my father of having stolen something. That was ridiculous, he was the most upright person I ever knew. In retrospect it now seems cynical, considering what I do now… So well he defended himself and didn´t let them arrest him. So the guards became aggressive and knocked him down. But still father was too proud to back away and tried to fight back. He never had a chance, it were 4 trained and armed guards against one mal nourished man. They beat him up so badly that you couldn´t recognize his face afterwards. When father fell to the ground unconscious, they intimidated my mother, so she wouldn´t be telling anyone what happened. She did her best to heal father, but he was too badly wounded, especially on his head. It took him another day to die. I will never forget the sound of his cries and pain, until finally the house became silent."

Brynjolf didn´t know what to say. He had heard stories similar to this from new young thieves, but it had never been guards… He could just lay his arms around Missy again. She smiled bitter at leaned on him. "I can´t really remember the days afterwards. I know that I ran to the palace and wanted to speak with the Jarl. Tell him what his guards did, so they would suffer for their crimes. I was so naïve, of course they didn´t let me speak with him… I was so furious. I kicked and spitted and it ended with my in jail. My first time ever… Next morning my mother came and got me. She was acting totally unemotional. She wasn´t the same afterwards and it took her only a half year to follow father. In the next winter she caught a pneumonia and within a week she was dead. Now, my sister and I were all on our own. Some neighbours tried to help us a bit, but they hadn´t even enough money for themselves. We found work in the local inn. My sister helped in the kitchen and I worked as a barmaid. The money we got was barely enough to keep body and soul together. But ever since father´s death, I had this anger in me. Just out of stubbornness I wasn´t giving up."

Missy laughed bitterly once. "And the anger grew. The looks I got from the older men… I can still feel them on my back and behind. It was disgusting. By all gods, I was just 14 years old… and the other women in the tavern were no help, they just said I shouldn´t be so prude, being a bit coquette would earn me a good tip…" Missy shook her head and Brynjolf could very well understand her anger.

"My sister and I grew apart these days. She weren´t angry at the whole situation. She more waited naively for her knight in a shining armour… I couldn´t deal with that for I was far beyond such hopes." Now her smile grew a bit. "But then I got saved. I had made it a habit of carrying a dagger with me, so I could ward off anyone who would get too close. That evening back then, a bit over a year after mother had died, and something like 10 years from now, there was a stranger staying at the inn that night. That wasn´t an unusual thing, but he watched me closely the whole evening, but never made a move or something. When I stepped on a foot of a drunken man, who tried to pull me on his lap, I felt him smiling. In the early morning when I was done with my work, he intercepted me at the outside of the inn. He told me, he could show me to use this anger for me and that I could earn lots of coin. Actually I didn´t gave it a second thought, it only took me an hour to grab my stuff and bid farewell to my sister and I was gone to become an assassin.

I still don´t know what he had seen in me to make me this offer, but I´m still very thankful."

Missy ended her story there and Brynjolf felt that he couldn´t blame her for the decisions she had made. He thought that maybe he understood her ways better now. Though he felt a bit sad that this young girl had to experience such injustice, he knew a well enough by now to not pity her. She would have stabbed him probably. She didn´t need his pity. She had gotten herself out of this misery all on her own. He couldn´t do anything but admire the strength she obviously possessed.

She shook her head then as if to shake those memories off. He stood up and reached out to help her. "C´mon, lass, it´s getting late and I´m hungry…" She smiled at him then. "Okay, but tonight I´m paying." That was an invitation Brynjolf wasn´t going to decline. Slowly one walking one hopping, they made their way to the Bee&Barb.


	8. fifth encounter part 3

AN: Hello again =) I`ve been having trouble sleeping for some days now, but that isn´t your loss, as I used the time to write another chapter! First I´d like to welcome those who just started to follow this story, as I know there are some of you. And a big thanks to Bre as she recommended my story in her story. Possibly those two things are related... ^^ Always feel free to leave me a review and tell me your opinion. And as always a thanks to those how already did so.  
With this chapter we´re getting deeper into the relationship and I really enjoyed writing it. Though if Missy and Brynjolf could, they would possibly murdering me for what I´ve done to them... I´m actually quite excited to write more as I got some interesting ideas in my head. This also means that I won´t let anyone die, there is just too much they need to do still and there will be coming up more soon (hopefully)

Fifth encounter part 3

It had been a week now Missy had stayed in Riften and Brynjolf could tell she was getting bored. She was by now able to walk again and only when you gave a really close look you could see that she still limped a bit. He knew it wouldn´t be long now and she would be on her own way again. The thought made him kind of sad. He liked spending time with her and it was a new feeling for him that someone waited for him to come back. They had talked about a lot of things trivial and important. So he felt like he knew her somewhat and there was definitely something relationship like developing, but he knew better than to ask her to stay. The brotherhood was her life, just like his was the guild. He would never leave them for a woman. As hard as it was, he couldn´t blame Missy doing the same.

Some time ago he had left her in the Flagon and now was discussing several things with Mercer. The man in front of him seemed determined to keep this going, but Brynjolf wasn´t really paying attention. He wanted to savour this last days he had with Missy.

"So what do you think?" Mercer look at him expectant and Brynjolf snapped out of his thoughts. "Uhm, well…, interesting…" and offered him a smile. He knew pretty well that the older man knew he hadn´t been paying attention. Mercer then made a grim smile and sighed. "You are quite taken with that girl, aren´t ya?" The thought of Missy made Brynjolf automatically smile. "Won´t deny that. She´s someone special…"

Mercer leaned at the wall behind him and crossed his arms. "It´s probably good having close bonds with the Brotherhood and from what I´ve heard she is a sight for sore eyes." If the rumours had reached Mercer by now, then everybody knew. "But as your friend, Brynjolf, and chief…" now his stare became serious "It´s not a problem having a bit of fun once in a while, but I feel stupid that I have to tell you of all people, that you shouldn´t get into feelings for this woman." Now Brynjolf crossed his arms and looked angry at Mercer, who just felt his point confirmed.

"You don´t know her intentions. She is an assassin after all. She could be using you to get inside the guild… for whatever reasons… these maniac deadra worshippers are unpredictable. Even given that she is really interested in you, what happens when you two have a fight?! This guild can´t afford losing you, because of an ex-lover running wild. Remember Gallus and Karliah…"

If Brynjolf had been furious before the last statement hit him. This whole ordeal had left a scar deep within his soul. "Mercer, I think I´m old enough to decide that on my own…" But the one in question gave just a frustrated sigh. "Brynjolf, I hate it, that I have to be the voice of reason in this, but this guild needs you… " - "And I have never betrayed you, nor put this guild in any danger. I devoted my life to it… I assumed that you had more trust in me." Brynjolf turned around and went to the Flagon.

What was Mercer thinking?! He didn´t even knew Missy, or had ever spoken to her. She did her very best to keep out of guild business. She wasn´t like Karliah…

Even before he entered, he could hear lots of people laughing. When he stepped through that door, he could see that everybody stood around Vex and Missy and cheered. The girls seemed to have a competition in throwing knifes. Brynjolf joined Delvin, who stood a bit aside. "What´s going on here?" Delvin chuckled. "Not really sure, their conversation must have escalated at some point."

Missy tuned around to him and smiled. With her lips she formed a silent: "Winning!" and then was back concentrating. Delvin watched Brynjolf carefully "What crawled up your arse and died?"

Brynjolf sat on a barstool and watched Vex throwing her knifes. It wasn´t bad, but he knew Missy was excellent with fare range weapons. He would bet on her.

Leaning a bit to Delvin, so no one would be eavesdropping he explained:" Mercer doesn´t approve of Missy. Compared her to Karliah…" Delvin knew what that meant and that it probably had hurt Brynjolf far more than he would have admitted. Amicable he gave him a pat on the back. "C´mon, this grumpy old man doesn´t approve of anyone these days… Don´t take it so serious. I like her." And he offered a comforting smile. The conversation was cut off, when it was Missy`s turn to throw. Brynjolf could see how she concentrated and how her whole body tensed, admiring especially the muscles of her behind. With a dull thud, the small knife drove itself deep in the wooden chair, which served as a target. A murmur went through the crowd. It had hid the perfect middle.

Vex wasn´t one to take defeat that lightly, but even she admitted that she had been bested by far. Though she would have never expressed it, she was impressed.

Brynjolf went to his winning girl and kissed her sweetly, while giving her a bottom smack. "I told you not to screw things up, while I´m gone." She was a bit irritated, because he had never kissing in such an open public. "It was her idea… and I haven´t screwed up, have I?" she tried to defend herself. They went to sit on a table again. Surprisingly Vex didn´t seemed to be sulking as she joined them. She mumbled "I´m paying, seems I owe you…"

In the meantime he tugged Missy on his lap. She let him, but turned around and looked a bit insecure. "What´s up with you? You are clinging to me…" Brynjolf kissed her neck and so effectively hided his face. "It seems about everyone around here knows we have a thing. There´s no need to put up an act…" She had a nagging feeling that there was something more, but didn´t wanted to push him. Truth be told, she didn´t minded his affections at all.

Then Vex came back with some cups. She wasn´t one to chatter, but Delvin, who joined their table was taking over that. "You know what, girl? You´re far too cute to be an assassin… Are you sure you don´t need a side job as a thief?" But Missy laughed at that. "Really you have no idea, Delvin. I´d be such bad thief… I am anything but subtle and I hate lock picking. Always takes me numerous times and broken picks. This would end with me in jail, even before I started…" She took a deep gulp of her mead. If that was possible Brynjolf tugged his arms around her body even closer. "I would break you out every time, lass" He smiled at her. Missy looked at him puzzled.

Sure he was being cute and sweet and everything… though she would have never admitted it she was blushing at this romantic side. No one had ever been this nice to her. But at the same time this made her worry. She liked Brynjolf, she couldn´t deny that and she wanted to keep this friends with benefits thing. Though he acted at the moment like he was becoming attached to her and she didn´t knew if she could cope with that.

Brynjolf saw in her eyes that he overdid it. She still wasn´t so comfortable with the intimacy they shared. He was sure by now that he was head over heels in love with this woman and he felt that she at least shared that at some point, but maybe Mercer had been right and he was investing too much in this, while she just wanted casual sex? This thought mad him bitter and he couldn´t tell her otherwise she would probably run from him. But was it wise to pretend that there weren´t feelings? Damn it, he wanted to savour the time he had with her.

The conversation on the table had continued without him. Delvin wasn´t giving up so easily. Brynjolf just sighed and leaned his head at Missy´s back. It wasn´t his position to interfere in this. Whatever he could have said would be false. Occupying himself with watching the others around, he spotted someone slowly sneaking in the Flagon and as he concentrated he recognised Greta´s form. A huge smile formed on his face and he jumped from his seat, practically tossing Missy from lap in the process. Excited he ran to her. She seemed exhausted, but unharmed. "Lass, you are back!" he exclaimed happily "I take it you´ve been successful?" As Greta equally recognised him, she smiled genuinely back and hugged him. "Sure… as always." He laid an arm around her shoulder and pushed her to his table.

Missy had watched the whole scene. No emotion had betrayed her face, but internally she was fuming. How could he say so sweet things and then in the next moment toss her away literally? She tried to remind herself that he was a conman after all. And technically they didn´t had a relationship, so she had no rights to keep him as her own. She just wished, he wouldn´t be doing this in front of her eyes…

When Greta approached the table she saw the dunmer woman that had broken her nose standing there, watching her icily. Brynjolf, normally very alert, didn´t seem to catch the duel of glances that was going on. "Greta, lass, this is Missy… she is… a friend." Greta shrugged him off.

"Yeah, we´ve already met." Delvin had a feeling like the temperature in the room had dropped ten degrees. He coughed and then asked Greta if she had brought something interesting with her to change the topic. Reluctantly she turned her gaze away from Missy. Who equally turned around, but to Brynjolf and looked at him angry. She thought she had misheard him, did he really say "friend", he could at least have said "playmate" or something… now he leaned to her ear and whispered: "You wouldn´t choke when you´d apologised for the broken nose…" He must be kidding her! She hadn´t done anything wrong. If someone had to apologise it was this cow, with her fair hair, pale skin and big tits…

She just shoved him away and got herself an own chair. Now Brynjolf felt that there was something going wrong here, but he couldn´t decipher what, as Greta interrupted his thoughts. "Here I found this parchment. It seems Sabjorn had a silent partner. But there is no name, just this odd symbol. Maven told me to show it to you." He had a quick look, but he had never seen anything like this. He nudged Missy and if that was possible her look became even sourer. "Have you ever seen this?" She just shook her head. She didn´t want to get mixed up in guild business. Suddenly she had the giant urge to get out of this sewers. She had always felt caged in them, but now it was unbearable. Without a word she got up from the chair and rushed through the tunnels to get outside.

Brynjolf looked blank to the chair where she had just sat. What was going on here? He turned to Greta. "Lass, please go and talk to Mercer about that symbol. And find yourself something to eat…" before he was even finished he hurried after Missy.

"Lass! Missy!" he shouted standing in the middle of the town. He was pretty sure that she was somewhere here. It was dark and except for some guards there was no one else around. They gave him an amused look, but he was too furious to even care.

Missy stood on the piers and tried to calm down. But hearing his shouts made her angry again. Raging she kicked a bucket laying in her way. With a loud crack it flew several meters further on the pier. She had the unbelievable urge to beat something or someone up. Preferably this Greta-girl.

When Brynjolf found her, because of the noises she had made, the first thing he noticed was her body language. While she stood there perfectly motionless, her whole body was rigid. She was ready to fight. By the Nine, she looked like a hungry wolf stalking his prey. It made his skin tingle and he could feel his blood rushing.

"What was that about, lass? Why are you making such a fuss?" he exclaimed not nicely. Her eyes snapped at him and the intense stare seemed to burn him. "What was that about?! I could ask you the same question! Truth be told, I´ve been having quite some fun with you lately, but I´m not yours to play with… Mind my words, Brynjolf, don´t you dare to toy with me!" While speaking she had slowly come closer to him and now stood in front of him. Though she was more than a head smaller than him, she intimidated him. And he knew, she was doing that on purpose.

"Lass, I´m not toying with you." He spoke each words very carefully, as if not to give her a reason to escalate. She looked at him unbelieving. Her composure somewhat relaxed, but just for a second, and when she tensed again and her hand hauled off to slap him hard.

He should have seen this coming, but he didn´t. It even took him another moment to collect his thoughts and process what had happened. His cheek felt as if on fire. Missy had used his shock to attack again and shoved him backwards with all her power till his back hit the city walls. "You´re not toying?! Then what was that? One moment you´re sickly sweet and next you push me away like rotten flesh… and then you tell me to apologise?! Me?! I´m not some dump tavern girl, Brynjolf, you have no right to command me, no one does, except Sithis himself maybe…" She was talking herself in a rage. Brynjolf still stood there unmoving and bore her rage with an unnatural calmness that made her even more furious. What she didn´t knew was that at the same moment he was having his own fight against himself and he was losing.

With a swift movement he grabbed her hips hard and turned them, so her body was pressed between his and the wall. A shriek escaped her, but it was deafened halfway, when his mouth crushed down on hers. It was a messy kiss, with biting and teeth clashing. As he used all his body weight to keep her in position his hands roamed to her butt, grabbed it firmly and he pulled her up, so her legs were straddled around his hips. The sensation as their hips met, made both groan and effectively cut off the kiss. Though he was panting heavily, Brynjolf used the moment to attack her neck and mumbled there: "I´ve told you. I never had something with Greta, nor will I have in the future. I´ve never lied to you. By Dibella, you taste so good." He kissed and bit his way from her neck and to her earlobe. Sucking at it ecstatically.

Missy´s anger was not gone, by far not. But at the moment it was transformed into something else. Everything she could think of was his mouth and his hips rubbing against her own. She crossed her legs behind him to keep him near. Her hands found their way into his hair and with a tight grip she yanked his head back. "This isn´t solved yet!" A smug smile formed on his face and he pulled himself free of her grip.

What followed wasn´t the most passionate or satisfying sex they had ever shared. It was wild, animalistic and angry. With his hands still on her buttocks he had pulled her dress up and ripped her underclothes apart. Her only commentary had been an angry grumble and he couldn´t bring himself to care. In the meantime she had been busy, opening his breeches. It had been a matter of minutes and he was taking her hard. The world around was forgotten instantly. Everything that mattered were her hips meeting his in an urgent pace. Neither one cared to hold himself back, so I took them but a couple of moments and they went over the edge.

Both now tried to calm their breaths. Her fingernails still stuck in the skin of his neck, where she had held herself tight. He leaned against the wall to support his arms, which still held her up, and which felt weak now. Slowly he let her sink down on her feet, but didn´t moved away a centimetre. She didn´t mind as her knees felt weak any way.

Suddenly there was cough behind then and both looked shocked into the faces of a group of guards.

"You two are arrested for public indecency!"

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They hadn´t been in their cells for more than 10 minutes, but Brynjolf could tell Missy was furious again. Both of them had gotten their own cell and hers was face to face with his. Only a hallway separated them and prison bars of course. When the guards had arrested them, they had been too stunned to do anything. Even Missy hadn´t said anything. He was thankful that he had at least thought to pull his breeches up.

"This is all your fault!" Missy exclaimed and tried to shake on the bars. He watched her. She was so cute when she was getting angry.

"Yeah, blame me. That's okay." He said totally at ease. He had spent many nights here already, but she looked at him irritated. "How can you be so calm? This is… humiliating…" Brynjolf rested his elbows on his knees and smiled at her. She seemed really hurt.

"This isn´t my first night in here…" he explained. She snorted, but he didn´t minded her. "But this is the first time, the reason is really worth it." She tried desperately not to, but had to smile at his statement.

"Missy, I do understand that you felt offended by my behaviour and I apologise for that. You should know that ever since I met you, I´m totally taken by you." He searched her eyes. "I haven´t even thought about sleeping with other women and I´d like to point out that this pretty unusual for me."

She seemed to have calmed down a bit and now leaned her head on the prison bars in front of her.

"As much as it flatters me, there is absolutely no need to be jealous" Now she gave him a real smile.

"I might have overreacted a bit. The slap was probably unneeded…" that was as near at an apology as he could get and he knew that. He leaned himself back against the wall and smiled at her. She on the other hand was grinning salacious at him. "I don´t want to complain, but could you may explain me, why you got so turned on by me insulting and hitting you?"

He never had the chance to answer that, because there were noises coming from the guard`s room. Now Brynjolf went to the front of his cell too, trying to see what was happening. Suddenly there appeared a man. Obviously a nord by stature, but pretty young and clad in a black armour.

Missy seemed excited at the sight. "Yall!" she called happily. The man turned to her and smiled too. "There you are, I was starting to wonder…" and he was starting to fidget with the lock of her cell. Brynjolf snorted, this man was obviously as good with lock picks as Missy claimed to be.

"How did you know I was in here?" she asked him. "Uhm, well, saw you getting arrested and uhm, a bit earlier… didn´t want to disturb you guys… but I thought I couldn´t leave you in prison like this…" His head was turning red. He hadn´t expected to come across his leader in such a way. At last, the lock clicked open and Brynjolf had a feeling that he should point out to himself. "Don´t you forget me here…" he asked somewhat sour. There was again this salacious smile on her face that showed him that she was indeed thinking about leaving him here. But eventually, she nodded to the young man, who had waited for a signal of her.

When he started digging in the lock, Brynjolf sighed and took the picks from his hand. He needed merely a moment and the lock was open. With a grim look he gave him the picks back. "You are far too brutish, lad, you must treat them like a woman´s womb… with care!" he told him. Missy had a sarcastic laugh at that, but wasn´t dwelling on the matter as they made their way outside.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

They returned to the Flagon as it seemed the wisest option. It was one of the few places in Riften no guard would search them.

Missy had taken a seat a bit offside with Yall, so no one could be eavesdropping. "So how`s everything going?" she asked and passed him a cup of mead. "Good, I think… Since we didn´t get new contracts from the nightmother, we had time to work off the ones we already had. It was uneventful actually, but I guess that´s not a bad thing in our business." She didn´t know if she should like the fact that they were coping so well without her, but then it took some weight of her shoulders. What she did notice was that Yall was becoming very professional in his ways. "You seem to have settled within our little family." Now, she made the young man smile and he replied. "Yeah, now that I´m fulfilling contracts on my own, I really feel like I fit in and I´m more at ease." She smiled too. They had been lucky to come across a person like Yall. Young and still passionate, but already experienced in battle. He will need to learn a lot in the next years about their lifestyle, but they hadn´t needed to teach him so much. "Well, then…" she raised her cup "Kill well and often, brother." He met her cup and took a sip, proud that she was so confident in him. He had seen her fight and really respected her, no matter that she was an elf or a woman or whatever.

"Well, if everything is fine, then why are you here?" she now asked after drinking from her own cup. Yall was also back to business and handed her a letter. "Nazir gave me this. He said you would have to deal with it yourself, it wouldn´t suit his position." Missy took the letter curious. She read over the page and her mood dropped. She would have to go to Windhelm… of all cursed places in this land she needed to go to Windhelm. And Nazir had been right, there was no way to hand this to someone else. She looked up again. "Have you read this too?" The young man in front of her looked shocked. "No! I wouldn´t dare…uhm, just recognized the official stormcloak seal on the outside." She chuckled a bit at his military manners. "Yall, we don´t have military ranks in the brotherhood. As long as it isn´t a personal letter, I don´t have a problem with you reading it. Everyone else probably already has. Don´t think of yourself as inferior. This letter tells me that I have to go to Windhelm and I will need a backup, so you will be coming with me." He just nodded. "I will tell you the details en route. Do you have a room at the Bee&Barb?" "The local inn? Yes, I have" Missy nodded at him. "Good, then spend the night there and meet me just outside the city walls at dawn."

While the two assassins had been talking, Brynjolf sat on his table and watched them. He didn´t liked to be cast aside and that was exactly how he was feeling at the moment. As he saw the letter being passed over his mood went down further. It was probably a contract for Missy and that meant that she would go. He did not liked this thought and he did not liked the way she was smiling at this lad.

Delvin sat down across from him and watched him for a moment. "You know, this is quite funny to watch…" he finally said. Brynjolf looked at him not amused and snapped: "What do you want?" But Delvin was far too experienced to back off so easily. "About two hours ago Missy watched Greta with an icily stare that could have raised the dead and now, you give this boy exact the same stare." Brynjolf frowned and crossed his arms. "I´m not jealous at this… boy. He´s a milk-drinker, probably hasn´t even hair on his crotch…" okay damn it, he was jealous, but thankfully they just stood from their seats and separated. The young nord bid his farewell to Brynjolf most politely, who just was able to give him a cold smile. He knew that it was rather rude, as he owed it to him that he wasn´t spending all night in the prison.

Missy walked over to him. She didn´t look too happy either. "Can we retire?" she asked him. That seemed like the best option and Brynjolf gave a good night to everybody and then they set out for his room. She took his hand in hers and watched his face as she said "I need to get going tomorrow. I got an important assignment." His hand tensed and gripped hers firmly. She knew that this would be a difficult conversation. He stopped his pace for a moment and looked at her insecure as if he was about to say something, but then decided otherwise and proceeded his pace. Now Missy was insecure too. She had expected at least some kind of confrontation. But that he said just nothing seemed even worse to her. Probably the events of this evening were not helping.

The whole way back Brynjolf thought how he could express his wish for her to stay or at least to come back soon without sounding commanding. And how could he say that he was concerned about her without questioning her abilities? As he entered the room his thoughts were running wild and he wasn´t really able to make one straight sentence. As he looked in her eyes, who pleaded with him to say at least something, it was getting even worse. Maybe some things better left unsaid. "C´mon, it has been an eventful day. Let´s get to bed." And he started taking off his armour.

Missy sat on the edge of the bed. She only took off her corsage. She should be thankful that he wasn´t creating a scene, but actually this felt worse. As he blew out the candles and took her in his arms while laying down, she felt how tensed he was. They just couldn´t part ways like this.

"Bryn, we need to talk about this." He groaned and closed his eyes. Yes, she was right, but he would like to pretend everything was fine. "Lass… nothing I could say, would keep you here, right?" Even though it was dark, he could tell that she was fighting with herself, then quietly she admitted "Yeah…" He was thankful that she couldn´t see his face, where one must have been able to see all those pent-up emotions. "Then there is nothing to discuss, lass" he said.

"But I don´t want to part ways with you like this. This injury showed me again, that every contract I do, as simple as it may seem, could be my last, I don´t want to regret not having talked with you"

He groaned again. The perception of her possible death made this conversation not easier. He tugged her closer to his chest. "What do you want to talk about? I don´t question your abilities, by far not, I know that you are good at what you are doing and I know that I can´t stop you. You´re a master assassin after all. I live with this knowledge, but I still worry about you. It drives me insane that there is no way to help you if something happens. I…" Her hand was gently caressed is chest. He grabbed it and gently placed a kiss on it. "Bryn,… I appreciate your concerns. I don´t really know how to handle them though… I don´t think anyone ever cared that much about my wellbeing." Her honest words somewhat touched him. This situation was as new to her as it was to him. "I think it is something I will have to learn to deal with myself. Just promise me to do your very best to stay alive and come back to me, please." The last words had been more of a plea than anything else. He had more whispered them and Missy felt tears dwelling up in her eyes. She quickly blinked them away and instead gave him a desperate kiss. "I promise." She said, pulling herself away slightly. "I mean, I do have some interest in staying alive also…" she joked then and made him chuckle slightly. "…and you still owe me your story. I will definitely come back and collect this dept."

Though the situation hadn´t changed, Brynjolf felt as if a burden had been lifted from him. No matter what, she would be coming back.

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The next morning Missy only greeted Yall with a short nod. She found Shadowmere, who seemed eager to have finally something to do. Yall had brought his own horse, which was a bit unnerved by the other horse, but Shadowmere behaved well. As they had already ridden about an hour, Missy eventually had started to relax. Her departure from Brynjolf had been rather quick. Both didn´t really knew what to say. The closeness and intimacy they had shared that evening had been somehow vanished and she felt rather awkward. She tried to remind herself that he was but an affair. They had shared some nice time, but now it was time to get back to business. This made her anxious. The late summer wind blew through her hair and she knew that this was her life. She could never give this up for the sake of a man. No matter how much she would be in love with him. Did she really just thought that?

"Yall!" she said, to change the topic of her thoughts. The young man looked at her expectantly. "I want to explain you the details of this assignment. We are going to Windhelm. Our employer is no one less than Ulfric Stormcloak." The man beside her raised his eyebrows.

"But he doesn´t want us to kill somebody. On the contrary. He wants a contract with us, so we don´t take assignments to kill him." Missy continued. Yall then asked "Do we make such contracts? I haven´t heard before of that…" Now she smiled "It´s not really classic, but it shows that we have a reputation again. And he will have to pay a lot of money for that. The problem is it could be a trap."

"Oh" escaped Yall. He hadn´t thought about that. "That´s why I am going with you?" She smirked then. "You´re clever, yes. I fear that I would be a very uncommon sight in the Palace of Kings, as a dark elf. Won´t help with getting in and out undetected." Yall considered her words.

"So, you think I should dress up as a stormcloak?" he asked her. "That was my idea. I want you to spy a bit and then bring me in there." She looked him up and down. "I don´t think anyone will get suspicious. You would rather fit in there. You think you can do that?"

The young man nodded at her. "Sure. It is rather funny. My father was part of the uprising and he wanted me to be too. Now I´m going to act that I´m one." She would usually never ask any personal questions, but his statement got her curious. "Then why didn´t you? I mean joined the stormcloaks. Could have made a good career." He was silent a moment and she was about to take her question back, as she felt she had hit a nerve. "You don´t need to tell me…"

"No, it´s ok," he stated "it´s a fair question. My father was an officer. I would have gotten a good position and yeah, probably could have made a good career. But I was never that good with my father… He left me and my mother to fight with Ulfric, when I was still a boy. I never forgave him to leave us alone. Sure he came back from time to time, but it always made my mother even sadder. She had to live with the knowledge that every day she could get a message that he had fallen in the war. But then she needed to take care of our farm and the household all alone. It was a nearly impossible task and I saw her getting her more and more depressed every day. When I was old enough, my father wanted me to join the stormcloaks, but I couldn´t do that to my mother. We had a huge fight and in the end he threw me out of his house. Telling me that I wasn´t his son anymore. Mother pleaded with me to come back when he was away again. But that wasn´t something for me. I actually liked the freedom, I now have. I travelled through Skyrim for a while, till I was broke, that was when I meet Nazir." His expression now lightened a bit again. "I am sorry. This must sound pathetic to you, as you probably had a far harder life…" She looked at him enquiring. How would he now about that? But he quickly added "I mean as a dunmer in Skyrim…" Now she understood, but wasn´t interested in giving away her story. "That´s okay, you don´t become an assassin, if your life was all happy and carefree. I don´t think it matters how much you suffered though."

They rode some time in silence, but then Yall couldn´t hold himself back "Uhm, this man you were with when I came across you in Riften…" He felt his cheeks redden again at the memory of what he had seen that evening. "Brynjolf, yeah…" Missy said and encouraged him to ask further. "I wondered what kind of connection you two have?" He felt stupid. It wasn´t his position to ask his leader such questions. But Missy didn´t seemed to be offended by his question. Truth be told she kind of expected it. Still she didn´t knew how to answer. "It´s complicated." She finally stated. "I don´t know. We met some time ago and started some kind of an affair, but neither of us is so happy about the situation, but then we still can´t keep our hands off each other…" she explained. Yall nodded and considered her words. He was sure he wouldn´t get any more information and surely wouldn´t ask again. But then as Missy already thought he had dropped this matter, he added "You know, I don´t think it is always that complicated, we just make it complicated." He told her and the words sounded like they came from a far older man than he was.


	9. Interlude

AN: Hey Ho, I´m still living ^^

I´m really really sorry I kept you waiting for so long, I never wanted this to happen... and I feel kinda bad doing so. As you may have read before I´m currently studying and I had to learn for some tests and then had to finish some papers. Also as I was getting low on money I had to restart working, what cut off a lot of my time, I would have used to write.  
And if all of this wouldn´t have been enough, I really had a hard time writing this chapter, as it isn´t really a chapter, but an interlude. None the less, it is important for the further development of the plot. I started writing it about 3 times and edited it propably a hundred times. Today I decided go with the first version, as I had a feeling that it was only going worse with every editing. Still I´m not through out comfortable with this, so I´m excited to know you opinion.  
I can´t promise you, that I won´t be letting you wait another time this long, but you should know that I would never ever let this story down. Eventually there is an update coming, you can rely on have fun (though it´s rather short) and let me know what you think =)

Interlude

Missy laid down on her bed. Finally… her bed, what a wonderful feeling. It was very early morning even before sunrise. Yall and she had just come back from Windhelm. The sanctuary was totally silent, they were probably all in their beds sleeping. Whatever business had to be taken care of it would need to wait until later. She cuddled herself within the furs and felt the warmth slowly spreading through her again. It would be easier if Brynjolf laid beside her, she thought. But then that was an unlikely thought. She wouldn´t want him to stay within this sanctuary. Maybe she could get this bed transported to Riften and in his room? Cursing she tried to shut down those thoughts. It seemed he always sneaked into her head, when she didn´t put up an enormous effort to keep him out. Sneaky thief that he was… With a smile on her face, her eyes slowly fell close.

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At the same time in Riften Brynjolf lay awake in his bed. He would have liked to sleep but couldn´t. At day he could occupy himself easily as there was enough to do. But then at night, when her smell surrounded him, since he hadn´t bothered to change the bed-linen, his worries came back.

He hadn´t heard news of someone being assassinated and also nothing of an assassin being arrested or killed in action. He wasn´t sure if that was good or bad though. He wondered how this assignment was going on. Well, probably good. She was a master in her profession after all. He smirked. It seemed the lass was still trailing him…

He tried to focus on the matters at hand. It wasn´t like he could run around like a love sick fool. There was a lot going on at the moment. Mercer had come to the conclusion that someone was trying to bring them down by angering Maven. They needed to take care of this or it could get really messy. They had been asking around all their informants about that odd symbol, but it seemed like their adversary covered his tracks good. Tomorrow or more in a few hours he would have a talk with Mercer and Greta. He was quite sure the old grumpy man had gotten at least some sort of a lead… His lass had climbed the social ladder of the guild rather quickly, it had even surprised him, though he knew that she had talent. She was someone who could get things done, in these desperate times that was a rare quality. Even Mercer had some sort of respect for her, or something like that.

With all those troubles on his mind, Brynjolf fell into an uneasy slumber.

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Missy woke up when she heard someone enter her room. She spun around awaiting an attacker, but looked in the surprised eyes of Nazir, who raised his hands in defence. "Whoa, everything ok, I just wanted to check on you. It´s already midday." She stretched and looked around herself. She really felt recovered. "It´s ok, this Windhelm thing was quite exhausting…" Nazir smiled lightly. "If you would get up and join me in the main room, you could tell me more about it." She nodded and sat on the edge of the bed. "Give me a few minutes, would you?" she asked and Nazir went to leave her some privacy, but standing in the door way, he turned around again. "Missy… it´s really good to have you back. I was worried for a moment." And then he finally left. She looked at where he had stood in awe. He had never expressed any such emotions to her.

After quickly washing herself and making a mental note to take a bath later, she seated herself across from Nazir. She looked around. "Where is everyone else?" she asked and Nazir handed her a cup of tea. "Barbette and Cicero are away on business. But I await them back every moment and Yall is still snoring deeply. It has been a bit lonely in here all alone" Missy blew to make her tea colder. "So Yall said everything went smoothly while I was away?" she asked at put the tea aside as it was just too hot to drink. "Yea, more or less. I think everyone of us enjoyed the little break. It has been a stressful time lately." She nodded and instead of her tea she grabbed an apple. "I guess, I must apologise for my behaviour last time." She took a bite and stared on the table. "I really can be a bitch…"

Nazir smiled calmly. He wasn´t going to deny that. "It seems sending you to Riften had a calming effect to your nerves." She leaned back and smiled. "You have no idea…" Now it was Nazir´s turn to chuckle. "And honestly I don´t want to know… I just appreciate the effect. Should I send a gift hamper to the guild, then?" She stared at him for a moment unsure, then she got that he had made a joke. That wasn´t usual after all. "I think, they would feel pranked… There all quite nice there I must say. Had nearly no problems at all…" She still disliked Greta though, but that was another story.

"It was nice not having all this responsibility for once and just lean back…" She looked at him and Nazir nodded understandingly. He didn´t want her job that was for sure. "I mean no offense, but as you said it had been stressful lately and I don´t want to mess up as your leader. I don´t want to become like Astrid." Nazir listened carefully, but shook his head at her last statement. "You are not like Astrid and I´m pretty sure you will never be. We all have faith in you. Though as you wrote that you would stay in Rifton for a while, I must admit that for a moment I feared that you wouldn´t come back here. Thought you might be running off with that thief, you know."

Missy heartily laughed at this idea. "I´m not 15 anymore… no, I wouldn´t run from my responsibility and by the way he wouldn´t also, I´m quite sure about that. I just needed a break and the injury was rather nasty." Nazir was relieved to hear that. "Missy, I don´t know what´s going on with you and that man, and as I said, I don´t want any details. But I feel you benefit from it. You´re only mortal as every one of us" he then thought about Barbette "more or less at least… What I´m trying to say is, that it´s totally okay if you took some time off occasionally. You shouldn´t feel like you have to decide between us and that man." Missy felt really touched at his words. "Thank you, it´s a bit more complicated actually, but it´s good to know that you guys are backing me."

What could have become a very emotional moment was disturb by someone grunting and scuffling. A moment later Yall entered and looked at them, with a tired expression and through very small eyes. "Oh my! Missy what have you done to him?" She chuckled a bit and watched the young man taking a seat beside Nazir with another grunt. He only wore his breeches. His chest and his feet were bare and his long blond hair felt tousled to his shoulders. He took his face in his hands and mumbled. "She rushed me half across Skyrim in one night. Really, my butt is so sore I still can´t feel it…"

Nazir prepared another tea for their newcomer. "Well, you could tell me how your meeting with Ulfric went. Did you had tea with him?" he asked interested. Before Yall could answer he burned his tongue with the hot tea, so Missy took over the speaking. "He didn´t offer me any. A scandal isn´t it? But then financially it was totally worth the effort. Dear Yall here, disguised himself as a stormcloak guard and could easily spy the whole palace. And he made the way clear for me. Said to the guards in front of Ulfric`s chambers that they were needed elsewhere and they just disappeared. It was too easy really… I just had to follow up. While Yall watched the door, I had a little chat and a little bargaining with our usurper. He seemed really startled and not in the mood, so he kind of quickly agreed on a horrendous sum." Nazir nodded and asked "So we don´t take contracts against Ulfric Stormcloak?!" Missy threw the rest of her apple in the fireplace nearby. "That´s about it" She then watched Yall somewhat pitying "When Barbette comes back ask her for her salve against sore muscles. It really helps…" But he only groaned and let his head rest on the table.

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Later Missy had went to have a quick chat with the nightmother, well, that wasn´t right as the "conversation" was very one-sided. When she came back down the stairs, a surprised shriek escaped her. Barbette, who had come back in the meantime, had spotted her and was giving her a bear hug. "It´s so good to have you back…" she stated and looked up in Missy´s face. Now Cicero joined in and sang: "He, he, he… the Listener is back… the Listener is back… finally home again!"

Missy watched the whole scene around her as if uninvolved. Did she really tell Brynjolf that they were not all lunatics? Maybe they weren´t that far from it…

"C´mon, let´s go inside. I want to hear everything about your stay in Riften." Barbette took her hand and pulled her along. Cicero excused himself and went to the nightmother. In the main room Nazir and Yall were still seated around the table. They greeted Barbette warmly. In Missy spread a feeling like this was family. She could never leave them for good.

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The next day Missy sat mostly in her room and caught up all with the book keeping. Nazir had done a good job at organising the contracts and everything, but he hadn´t cared about the books. Astrid never had kept any and nobody took her serious for starting to do so. But then Missy thought it was an important thing to do. She kept a very detailed account on every coin that would come in the brotherhood and every coin that was spend. It was a Sisyphean task.

Though she felt this was needed after Astrid´s treachery. Everyone could look in the books and on what she was spending money and how much they still had. It was her way of attesting what she did as the leader. They all seemed to believe in her without any doubt. Something she would never understand, she certainly didn´t and she didn´t wanted her leadership to be just based in faith.

So that was why she kept books that were not secretly hidden, but open for everyone. But keeping the books was a tiring task and Missy was not used to sitting at a desk for hours. Her back and her eyes hurt and she felt far more tired than after staying awake for days. Groaning she leaned back in her seat and rubbed her eyes.

"What are you doing?" came a voice from behind her. Missy turned around a saw Barbette coming towards her. "Just catching up with the books." She answered and looked questioning. The vampire girl was unimpressed and strolled to the desk to give those books a quick look. Missy knew that she actually wasn´t interested in the books, so asked "What you are doing here? Have you decided who´s going to take which contract?" They had gotten 3 new contracts from the nightmother and Missy had decided that they should discuss themselves who´s going to take which contract. She had decided that there was no need for her to order such things, as long as the work would be done.

Though she wouldn´t have said that, she was quite happy for the distraction. Barbette took a seat on her bed and smiled her most innocent girly smile.

"Oh, yes, we have. Nazir, who is eager to get out of here, takes the one in Ivarstead. Cicero takes the one in Winterhold. They leave tomorrow together. Yall will be heading for Falkenreath in a couple of days. As soon as his bottom is well again. Though he still said, he would walk there." A devilish grin appeared on her face at the last sentence and Missy too felt like smiling. Poor boy…

"Why did you rush him so much?" Barbette now asked. That quickly shut down Missy´s smile. "I don´t like spending time in Windhelm. I was eager to get home." She answered crossing her arms.

Barbette nodded, obviously not convinced. "Did you had trouble with your thief?" Aha, this was the way this conversation was meant to be going. Missy crocked her head and gave Barbette an intense stare. This had the desired effect since Barbette was shifting around uncomfortably. "I just meant it would be a very logic reason… You haven´t really told me anything that happened in Riften. So I´m left guessing, am I?" she tried carefully.

Missy sighed, she wouldn´t get Barbette off her back, without giving away at least some information. "Okay, what do want to know?" The vampire girl smiled triumphal. She had decided that it was useless being subtle and asked bluntly "Are you in love with this man?"

Missy sat in front of her, opening and closing her mouth without saying anything. She looked a bit like a fish what amused Barbette. "I, uhm… I… I don´t know…" She had been questioning herself about this often lately. But hadn´t found an answer up until now.

Barbette wasn´t one to give up so easily, especially not with an answer so vague. "More details…, please" she said looking at Missy with big eyes. The assassin´s leader gave her a desperate look. "I just… I don´t know, as I said. When I´m with him, it feels wonderful and at least as if we really have a passionate affair. He can´t keep his hands off me, for more than a moment… and I don´t mind at all. He can be so sweet. I think he is into feelings with me, but I don´t know what he wants. As I don´t even know what I want." It actually felt good talking about this with someone, but as Missy looked in Barbette´s face, she saw that the girl couldn´t help her. She had no experience at all with situations like these, so she kind of naively answered: "You like him and he likes you. I think that is a good foundation for a relationship. Don´t think about it too much, just see where it leads you and have fun."

For a moment there was silence. Missy considered her words. It was about the same as Yall had said. Maybe they were right. Then Barbette went on: "Look, isn´t it irrelevant what you call it? It doesn´t matter if it´s a relationship, an affair or just casual sex… if you are in love, have a giant crush on that man or just appreciate his affections… maybe all these labels can´t fit, because you two live a very uncommon life." Now Missy was smiling again. "Really, you haven´t helped me the least. But it still feels better…"

"Glad that I could help…" Barbette was smiling, too and jumped from her seat. "Now, that you owe me… I have an offer to make" Missy looked questioningly. What could she want?

"For some time now, it´s just us girls and I want to go to Solitude as a… shopping trip. I need some clothes and you certainly too" Missy wasn´t quite sure, if that was an insult. Barbette obviously caught her puzzled look and quickly added: "I mean to seduce your thief… some fancy underwear?!" Missy now looked shocked and blushed. As old as Barbette maybe was, she still was a girl to her and she didn´t felt comfortable discussing such topics with her. Barbette on the other hand laughed about it. "Oh, C´mon, don´t be so prude… if you´d know what Astrid had hold told me in the past…"

Missy even blushed more thinking about that. "I don´t want to know…" she muttered. "I don´t think I need fancy underwear though…" Barbette rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and know you are going to tell me about birds and bees… Anyway I want to go to Solitude and you are coming with me… I need alchemy stuff, too." Missy wasn´t all too comfortable with the situation, she felt that she would be buying fancy underwear, if she wanted or not… "So, when are we going my new mistress?" she asked Barbette sounding as serious as she could, but her eyes sparkled full of mischief. The vampire girl caught the joke and played along. She raised her nose and said in the most commanding voice: "Ready when you are!"

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About a week later

Missy sat in the "Winking Skeever", the local Inn in Solitude. She was exhausted, even more so than the last time she had visited Solitude and back then, she had just lost most of her "family" and was about to kill the emperor. Barbette had absolutely merciless dragged her through all shops in this city until finally they had entered the "Radiant Raiment". Barbette had enthused over the shop as they would get the finest clothes in all Skyrim there. Silently Missy had asked herself, why she would need fine clothes, but she knew better than to ask. She small girl had been so eager to put her into new clothes, she had been unstoppable. And even though Missy had felt as if she was a girl´s puppet, she had yield up to her fate. The owners had looked at them suspiciously at first, but then as Missy had put her full purse on their counter, they hadn´t ask another question and served the small girl´s wishes.

Now Missy didn´t really know how to transport everything back to Dawnstar, as she had brought so many things, including fancy underwear. She took a sip from her mead. Silently she actually wondered if Brynjolf would like them, but she would never ever ask him… By the Nine! She blushed only thinking about this. She needed to distract her thoughts and looked around the Inn. Barbette had wandered off earlier searching herself a little snack. That was when she spotted a familiar blond woman at the counter.

Greta was counting her coins. Not that there was so much to count. The journey with the cart from Riften to Solitude had been expensive and no one had bothered to give her extra money for her expanses. So the choice was: having food or a room for the night?

Suddenly there was someone beside her, snapping quite some septimes on the counter. "She´s staying with me. What do you want to eat, girl?" Great turned around only the see Brynjolf´s dunmer girlfriend looking at her expectant. The bartender now looked from one woman to the other. She wanted to decline the offer, she really wanted, but she needed it too much. "C´mon, I don´t have all day…" the bartender said. Greta considered her options and concluded that it couldn´t hurt having a proper meal. "Uhm, some roasted fish, please…" she asked rather shyly. The older woman beside her rolled her eyes and said: "…and some potatoes and a bottle of mead, please"

The man nodded and handed her the bottle. "The rest is coming up soon!" With that Greta was shoved to the corner of the Inn at a table that obviously had been occupied by that assassin woman. For a moment no one said anything as they both took their seats.

Missy wasn´t sure why she had done this. She had seen that the girl had needed the coin and she could spare it, but she wasn´t sure if it had been such a good idea, after all they couldn´t really stand each other. Greta was the first to speak as she felt the need to be at least polite. "That wasn´t necessary, but I still would like to thank you. I appreciate it" Those words where obviously having a hard time coming, as they seemed very pressed, but they still made Missy smile. If the girl would at least act nicely, then she would do her best to do so also.

"It´s okay, I felt I kind of owed you. For the nose you know…" Greta nodded and lightly smiled, too. Then her food came and she felt how hungry she really was. Missy didn´t know how to proceed the conversation. It was getting rather awkward and Greta had at least her food to occupy herself.

"Uhm, so you´re here on a guild errand?" she asked. The nord woman looked up from her plate. The woman in front of her had obviously just wanted to make small talk, but she didn´t knew how much guild information she could give away. But if Brynjolf trusted her, then surely she already knew more than Great did herself, didn´t she? And it would be a good excuse to end this silence.

"Yeah, I´m following a trail, concerning the campaign that is going on against us." That seemed interesting to Missy. There was someone trying to bring down the Thieves Guild? "Interesting. I didn´t knew that. Have you any clue on whom that is?" she asked, fearing the ordeal with the Pentius Occulatus wasn´t finished yet. But Greta suddenly went pale. "I don´t think I should talk with you about guild affairs, if Brynjolf doesn´t" she said carefully. Missy smiled at that comment. It was obvious the girl still was uncomfortable around her. "That´s okay, though whom should I tell this?!" she asked shrugging her shoulders. "He thinks very highly of you, you know? I mean Brynjolf. He has a lot of faith in your talent." Greta turned her head down. It felt like it was on fire. Her cheeks were burning red. Missy found that quite amusing and cute.

"I think I have to apologise…" Greta mumbled, still not looking up. "For what?" Missy asked astonished. "I… said bad things about you, when I first heard you were with the brotherhood. I thought you were a bloodthirsty whore basically, without even knowing you. That was false. If Brynjolf likes you, I trust his judgement." Missy smiled sympathetic at her, not angry at all as Greta would have predicted. "That´s okay, our first meeting wasn´t under the best circumstances. And I did say some bad things too about you, while I accused Brynjolf of sleeping with you…"

Greta who had just hopefully raised her head now turned it down again. Blushing again. "Uhm, I wouldn´t… no, really I would never…" she stuttered. Missy felt compassion again, but how this insecure girl could be a master thief was beyond her… Bu then she was at least talking the truth obviously. So there was no need to worry…

"You know, I trust Brynjolf´s judgement, too, but you don´t seem like a thief to me. You´re not so… hard-nosed… maybe that´s a good thing for you, but it makes me wonder how you ended up with them?" Missy changed the subject. She didn´t what to course the girl anymore distress and Greta was thankful for the change.

"I kind of needed the money. I´m not proud on that, really… but it´s still better than working as a prostitute." She explained. Missy nodded. She could relate.

"Well, that´s more or less, how everybody ends up in the business. We usually don´t really decide that ourselves. It just happens and we´re are only able to make the most of it." Greta started to reconsider her opinions of this woman even more. It seemed fate had made her an assassin like it had made Greta a thief. But that made the act of stealing or even killing not a better one.

"I actually sometimes wonder how I can do this. It´s wrong to me. Maybe the gods are having a cruel joke with me, giving me this talent, but then also morals… and then the others are not helping they don´t seem to have such problems." the young woman debated. Missy saw in her eyes that this was a major problem for her. Though she didn´t knew why she would tell her of all people, she would do her best to help her.

"Well, I don´t think that having morals is the problem itself… you need that. I think you have adapted the morals from your parents, what isn´t a bad thing, but they don´t fit you any more probably… because they have told you that thievery is a bad thing. You need to find your own morals, since you don´t seem to find thievery so bad. At least you are able to do it, it seems. I find it important to have morals, to know your limits, the point where you don´t want to go any further. If you don´t have that you will deconstruct yourself. Even thieves and assassins know some sort of loyalty and morality. It just a different concept." She explained Greta and the younger woman listened eagerly. It was working within her. They really had some sort of unspoken rules, some lines that were not to be crossed. The idea that she didn´t have put her morals aside, but more had to adapt to a different concept of morals, made it far easier for Greta to accept her position within the Guild and find her place among the other thieves, for she already knew that she liked them and didn´t want to leave anymore.

"Thank you. That really helped" Greta smiled and that made Missy smile, too. "You´re welcome. I´m glad that I could help." She answered. Then there was a moment of silence again and both were lost in their own thoughts. Greta was the one to break it.

"Maybe I see now, why Brynjolf likes you so much… you´re not a bad person, really you´re not" she said smiling. Now it was Missy´s turn to blush. Not so subtly she changed the topic again. "So, you´re going to stay for some days?" Greta nodded. "I think so, I´m here to meet an informant and maybe trail him. That will take some time. You´re in Riften again, any time soon?"

"Yes, I will be heading there tomorrow." Missy said "It was nice talking to you. Really I liked it."


End file.
